A teenage boy has been arrested in London after a girl attending a top private school was stabbed to death on a morning bus, apparently after turning down a ‘romantic’ gesture of flowers.

A 15-year-old girl was attacked in Croydon, South London, “shortly after eight-thirty” Wednesday morning and, despite police and ambulance crews fighting to save her life, was declared dead at the scene. A police spokesman, observing the death of the child is “every parent’s worst nightmare”, said an arrest was made within 75 minutes and they believe the victim and suspect may have been known to one another.

Police have not released the names of either party.

CROYDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 27: Police forensic officers at the scene of a fatal stabbing of a fifteen year old girl, behind the Whitgift Shopping Centre on September 27, 2023 in Croydon, England. This morning Police received reports of a 15-year-old girl stabbed in Croydon, she died at the scene at 09:21. An arrest was made at 09:45 and he is likely to have been known to the victim. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph cites sources to report the victim was a 15-year-old pupil of one of Britain’s top fee-paying private schools, The Old Palace of John Whitgift, and that an eyewitness had seen an argument erupt on a morning bus after the victim rejected a gift of flowers from a boy from another school. This row continued off the bus and ended in the stabbing.

A night-shift worker returning home on a bus cited by the paper said he had witnessed the stabbing, describing the victim — a girl wearing a green school blazer — not wanting a male wearing a black school blazer to come any closer to her. He then stabbed her in the neck. The witness said he and others tried to catch the alleged knifeman and others rushed to help the victim.

The Old Palace of John Whitgift school published a statement on the killing confirming the girl had been a puil, and saying they were deeply shocked by the tragic killing and said they would be supporting pupils struggling with the news.