Members of the community rushed to Max and Mason who collapsed in the street to try and save them before paramedics arrived.
The friends died in hospital within 15 minutes of each other in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Det Sup Gary Haskins, head of Avon and Somerset Police’s major crime investigation team, said: “These were two boys going about their business just out being friends.
“They were cut down in the prime of their lives. They must have been absolutely petrified.
“They were attacked for no reason whatsoever by individuals they didn’t know.
“Unfortunately in the course of running away from their attackers they sustained injuries… so severe sadly they succumbed to those injuries. They were unsurvivable injuries.”
Det Supt Haskins said that within 59 minutes of the attack on Max and Mason, Snook was in custody.
“He [Snook] was the adult who could have changed the course of this incident.
“He’s the one that could have stopped this from happening.”
He added: “These individuals, as a collective, went after those two boys.
“They armed themselves together, they travelled together, they travelled back from the attack together, and they were intent on causing harm to whoever they came across.”
