A teenage boy was stabbed in the back during a suspected bike robbery in West Derby last night.
The 16-year-old victim was knifed in front of his horrified friend after he was threatened and set upon in Eaton Road at around 10.40pm on Sunday.
Detectives today launched a witness appeal as a cordon remained in place close to Walker Playing Field.
Merseyside Police confirmed emergency services were called to Eaton Road to reports of a 16-year-old boy being assaulted.
The victim later presented at hospital for assessment of what police termed "non-threatening injuries to his back".
He has been kept in hospital for treatment.
Forensics work and house-to-house enquiries will resume today.
Detective Inspector Sean Kelly-Martland said: "At this early stage in the investigation, we are keeping an open mind as to what happened and why.
"Initial enquiries indicate that the victim was with a friend and they were threatened before a pedal cycle was stolen, but we are looking to speak to anyone in the area who saw this incident, anyone running off, or who has heard talk since."
He added: ""If you live locally, saw, heard or may have captured anything on CCTV or dashcam, please come forward and we will take action. As we have tragically seen, knife crime can have catastophic consequences and while this young person has not received life-threatening injuries, this is purely by chance and will leave a significant impact nonetheless.
"We work hard to regularly remove from the streets dangerous weapons and those who carry them, so keep passing information on and we will do the rest."
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You can pass information via the police's social media desk @MerPolCC on Twitter or 'Merseyside Police Contact Centre' on Facebook with reference 20000616592, or call the independent charity @CrimestoppersUK anonymously on 0800 555 111.
You can also contact them via their online form at: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/give-information.
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