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A 15-year-old British girl was fatally stabbed on her way to school just moments after she rejected flowers from a boy, according to reports.
The victim — who has not been named publicly — was on her way to school Wednesday morning when she was attacked on a major road in Croydon, South London, the BBC reported.
The girl was targeted after she allegedly turned down flowers from a boy from another nearby school, eyewitnesses told the Telegraph.
The argument initially started between the teen, her friends, and students from the other school on a double-decker bus, and then continued on the pavement outside a shopping center, the witnesses explained.
The girl was pronounced dead on the sidewalk despite emergency responders’ frantic attempts to save her life, the outlet added.
Her devastated friends were left to share the news of her death with her parents, who did not get to the scene until later, youth worker James Watkins told the Telegraph.
“[The family] were in shock and devastated, it doesn’t feel real to them. They said a lot of things — it was shock and disbelief,” Watkins said of the victim’s relatives.
A 17-year-old male was subsequently arrested in New Addington and remains in custody, Chief Superintendent Andy Brittain said at a press conference at the scene, the Telegraph reported.
Old Palace of John Whitgift, a private school in the area, confirmed that the victim was a student and said the community is shaken by her “senseless and tragic death,” the outlet continued.
“It will take some time for the Old Palace community to come to terms with this terrible news, and we will offer support to our pupils as we try to do so,” the heartbreaking statement read.
Within a couple hours of the stabbing, flowers were already on the pavement near the scene to mark the tragedy, photos showed.
“It will take some time for the Old Palace community to come to terms with this terrible news, and we will offer support to our pupils as we try to do so,” the heartbreaking statement read.
“I’m heartbroken that a child in my town has been killed on her way to school and I cannot imagine the grief that her family will be going through at this time,” Croydon MP Sarah Jones said in a statement.
“We all hold our children close and our community will take time to grieve, but for today we are just thinking of this young girl and her family. I’m so sorry.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan told Greatest Hits Radio that he was “absolutely heartbroken” by the teen’s death, and vowed to “end the scourge of knife crime in our city,” the BBC reported.
Locals expressed frustration at the ongoing violent crime wave in the area.
“This will happen again next week, and next month, it’ll just be somebody else,” passerby Christopher Ita told the outlet.
“It’s just happening far too often in this area. I don’t understand how at this time in the morning a little girl’s been stabbed,” resident Georgina Slater added.
“I don’t know what the police are doing … they’re just getting younger,” she continued.