Police are considering authorising extra stop-and-search powers in parts of Sheffield after two teenagers were fatally stabbed this week.

The latest victim was a 15-year-old boy in the Lowedges area of the city on Thursday night. Police said another 15-year-old boy had been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Ch Supt Stuart Barton, of South Yorkshire police, said: “This weekend we’re considering some additional powers that we may wish to use, that we don’t like to use, on occasions around stop-and-search. We get to some points when we think: what more can we do, how can we support people, how can we give people that presence?”

Barton said the powers would only apply to certain parts of Sheffield. “It will be proportionate, it will be necessary, we’ll go through the legal process,” he said. “But it may be a consideration.”

Officers received reports at about 7.50pm on Thursday that a teenager had been stabbed. The boy was taken to hospital where he died an hour later.

While formal identification has not yet taken place, the boy’s family have been informed. Barton said the exact circumstances of the incident were “still being unravelled”.

“What we do know is that this young person was having a bit of a troubled time. We don’t believe it to be a random attack. There may be a bit of targeting with it, but it would be wrong for me to say exactly what that was less than 12 hours since the incident occurred, while we’re still working with the family and trying to give them some answers.”

On Tuesday night a 19-year-old man, Ryan Jowle, was fatally stabbed in the Woodhouse area. An 18-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of murder. The man remains in custody and the woman has been released on police bail as inquiries continue.

There have been a number of knife-related incidents in the city in recent months, including the killing of 22-year-old Jarvin Blake in the Burngreave area in March.

Asked whether Sheffield had a knife crime problem, Barton said: “I think Sheffield is like any city. You have to look across the UK, and many cities and many places are suffering from young people – and not just young people, older people – carrying knives.”