A second boy has been charged over a violent assault and "unprovoked" stabbing that left a 70-year-old good Samaritan and a 16-year-old boy seriously injured.
The 70-year-old was set upon by two teenagers at a chemist in Keysborough in Melbourne's southeast, after he intervened when they tried to leave with stolen items on Friday evening.
The Dandenong North man suffered serious upper body injuries in the altercation and was taken to hospital.
Police say the youths then approached a 16-year-old teen waiting at a bus stop in nearby Dingley Village about two hours later and allegedly stabbed the boy in an "unprovoked attack" and assaulted him as he tried to escape.
The boy was taken to the Alfred with serious lower body injuries and remains in a stable condition.
Officers arrested a 16-year-old Kingston teenager who handed himself in on Saturday and charged him with armed robbery, two counts of intentionally causing injury and theft from shop, theft and common law assault.
He will face a children's court on Sunday.
The teen's 19-year-old alleged accomplice was arrested at a Bonbeach home and taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries sustained from one of the incidents and expected to be interviewed once released.
Victoria Police say they seized a record number of knives following a series of high-profile stabbings and a shopping centre fight that prompted the state government to fast-track a proposed ban on the sale of machetes.
Officers are confiscating about 44 machetes, knives and blades off Victorian streets every day, with three-quarters of them in metropolitan Melbourne.
Some 6876 edged weapons have already been seized in five months in 2025, with authorities expecting that to surpass the 14,805 found in 2024.
The machete ban was brought forward days after a fight broke out at Melbourne's Northland Shopping Centre, which forced terrified shoppers to run for their lives after rival teen gang members confronted each other with edged weapons in May.
