Two 16-year-old boys killed in a school scuffle in Tbilisi

Two teenage boys died in Tbilisi after being stabbed during a school scuffle on 1 December .

A 16-year-old has been arrested on charges of murder. The police are still searching for another suspect, also a teenager.

The first victim passed away before reaching the hospital and the other passed away the following day after doctors had spent hours trying to save him. Both were 16 years old and students of school №51, one of the most prestigious schools in the capital.

The 112 [similar to 911] emergency response hotline was first notified about the incident at 14:10. The caller said a group of teenagers were fighting in the Khorava Street in the centre of Tbilisi, and some of them had been wounded.

“As I approached [the incident scene], I saw a kid lying on the pavement, bleeding profusely. He was pale, and his hands and feet were jerking involuntarily,” a witness recalled. “The others had fled.”

The assumption is the teens had started arguing on the school ground before moving to the courtyard of a nearby house where the argument escalated into a fight. The doctors said the two boys had been stabbed multiple times. One of them suffered as many as 30 wounds. The police have yet to establish the motive for the crime.

Meanwhile, the incident has stirred up frenzied discussions in the Georgian community on Facebook. Some users have called for a solidarity rally.

“Let us come together to express our compassion and support for the victims’ families, to show our interest as citizens in how the investigation works out,” one of the rally organizers wrote on Facebook.

“Please bring flowers and candles to light. We need to show to the state and, above all, to our children that we want a civilized response to what has happened.”

The rally is starting at 18:00 outside of the school 51 building.