A Melbourne boy has been forced into a car and seriously injured in an apparent random attack as he walked home from school.
The 14-year-old student from Glen Eira College was confronted by a group of offenders in a dark grey Volkswagen Tiguan in Glenhuntly on Monday afternoon, police say.
The car drove off along Neerim Road and a short time later the boy was found injured at a nearby intersection.
The boy suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to Melbourne's Alfred Hospital, where he remains in a serious but stable condition.
Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Lisa Watson said the incident appeared to be a random attack.
"This child was an innocent victim on his way home from school," she told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.
Other students from Glen Eira College witnessed the attack and have been spoken to by police.
A Volkswagen Tiguan was found burned out in Dandenong about midnight.
Police were unable to confirm whether the victim was stabbed or ejected from the car during the attack.
About 10 minutes earlier, two men armed with machetes robbed four teenagers of their mobile phones and other personal belongings nearby on Kambrook Road.
Detectives are still investigating whether the armed robbery is linked, but Det Watson suggested the men were deliberately targeting students after school.
"As a parent, it makes me absolutely sick to think that my boy could be walking home from school and randomly confronted by people with knives," she said.
"It's a heinous attack, that's reprehensible and we will do everything we can in our power to bring these offenders to justice as soon as possible."
Other incidents in the area may also have been linked to the group but police declined to provide details.
