Two further arrests made as part of attempted murder investigation in Portsmouth
The 16-year-old suffered a stab wound to his chest
Detectives investigating the attempted murder of a 16 year-old boy in Portsmouth on Saturday (25 January) evening have made two further arrests.
A 16 year-old boy from Leicester has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and remains in custody at this time.
A 16 year-old boy from Portsmouth has now been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder and remains in custody at this time.
A 17 year-old boy from Gosport, two 17-year-old boys, a 16-year-old boy, and an 18-year-old man, all from Portsmouth arrested on suspicion of attempted murder have all been conditionally bailed until Friday 25 April while our enquiries continue.
We were called at 5.24pm on Saturday to a report that the 16-year-old had been located on Commercial Road with a suspected stab wound to his chest. It was reported that the incident had taken place a short time earlier on Arundel Street.
Specialist officers were deployed to the area to ensure the safety of members of the public.
The 16 year-old boy has been taken to hospital for treatment, and remains in a stable condition. His injuries are not thought to be life-threatening or life-changing.
We remain in the area carrying out enquiries and uniformed officers will be carrying out regular patrols. Anyone with any concerns can speak to one of these officers.
Portsmouth Chief Inspector Fifi Gulam-Husen said: “Incidents of this nature are rightly and understandably concerning to members of the communities that they happen in.
“I want residents in the city to know that we have been working round the clock to determine the circumstances of this incident, and identify those responsible. We do believe this to be an isolated incident and do not consider there to be any risk to the wider public at the current time.
“We will continue our enquiries into what has happened, and in the meantime officers will be out on patrol in the city centre, even more so than usual in the coming days, so please do come and speak to them if you have any questions or concerns.
“We have strong links with our partnership agencies, including Portsmouth City Council, local youth groups and charities who help us to educate young people intent on carrying a knife and start the early intervention work that underpins our communities-led policing response to knife crime.
“I would like to reassure people that when these incidents take place we work as hard as we can to bring offenders to justice and review our response so that we can continue to keep Portsmouth safe. Our latest figures show that knife crime including: assaults, robberies, and public order offences with someone under the age of 18 as the victim has fallen across the city in the last twelve months compared to the year before by 24% to 57”.
We want to encourage communities and young people to report information about weapon-enabled crime and other offences either by reporting it to police on 101 or by giving that information anonymously through independent charity, Crimestoppers or their under 18s service called Fearless, which can be accessed via Fearless.org or by calling 0800 555 111.
Any parents and professionals concerned about knife crime in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight can visit Safe4Me for advice, help and support
As part of our ongoing investigation into this incident, we would like to hear from anyone who was in the city centre at around 5.20pm and who may have seen what happened or anyone running from the area.