Key Points
- Westfield Marion Centre in Adelaide went into lockdown on Sunday afternoon following a brawl between teenagers.
- Two boys, aged 15 and 16, have been arrested and charged with assault, affray and aggravated robbery.
- Assistant Commissioner Scott Duval said it was clear from CCTV footage that the incident was not a random attack.
Two teens have been arrested following a brawl that sent an Adelaide shopping centre into lockdown.
The incident unfolded at Westfield Marion Centre in Adelaide just before 3pm on Sunday and triggered widespread reports of an armed person inside.
Centre management activated an audible alert and evacuation alarm, and the centre went into lockdown.
Shoppers sought refuge in stores as specialist police searched for those involved.
Assistant Commissioner Scott Duval said it was clear from CCTV footage that the incident was not a random attack.
Two boys, aged 15 and 16, were later arrested and charged with assault, affray and aggravated robbery.
Police also seized two expandable batons.
The teens are expected to appear in the Adelaide Youth Court on Monday.
A 77-year-old woman suffered a shoulder injury while fleeing the centre and another person in their 30s suffered a knee injury, South Australia Ambulance Service said.
How the incident unfolded
Duvall said police were called to the scene after 2:52 pm when police received reports of two groups of teenage boys fighting in the food court, including some armed with expandable batons.
“(One group) approached another group of boys and an altercation occurred,” he told reporters at the scene on Sunday.
Duval said three boys chased the other teenagers through the centre and entered the David Jones store.
Police are confident the fight between the two groups of teenagers was not a random attack. Source: AAP / Matt Turner
“That was the first part of our focus of where we put our specialist attention, to start clearing the centre to ensure the safety of all people could be assured,” he said.
Duval said the police’s reaction to such incidents had changed since Sydney’s Bondi Junction attack earlier this year, in which , killing six people including a security guard.
“These types of reactions to these incidents are very much influenced by incidents like Bondi,” Duval said.
“We have a fantastic relationship with these retailers and the exercising is what allows us to put in place a very good response.”
A young woman, who was in the cinema when the commotion began, told ABC News how it unfolded.
“We were in the movies and we just heard this noise going on saying ’emergency’… and nobody really knew what it was — if it was a phone or something,” she said.
“Someone went out of the movies and all of a sudden everyone just came running in — just sprinting incoming, yelling ‘run, run’.
“Then we got up and started sprinting towards the emergency exit.”
