Westfield Marion explainer: What exactly happened in the shopping centre
A relaxing Sunday afternoon shop turned into a nightmare for thousands of shoppers at Westfield Marion after teenage boys with weapons sent the centre into lockdown.
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South Australians held their breath for more than two hours on Sunday afternoon after Westfield Marion was plunged into a lockdown leaving thousands of shoppers fearing their lives.
Chaos erupted at the centre after a fight broke out between armed teenage boys in the centre’s food court.
Three teenagers have since been arrested. Here’s what we know so far.
What happened at Westfield Marion?
A fight between teenage boys that broke out in the food court sparked the full-scale lockdown and police presence, including STAR Group officers, around 3pm on Sunday.
Armed with weapons, three teenagers made their way from the food court to David Jones – where police investigation began.
Assistant Police Commissioner Scott Duval said police had not been able to rule out that the youths had other weapons but CCTV showed them chasing the other boys through the centre.
“We do have some reports that a knife may be involved,” he said.
Mr Duval said the intentions of the attack were not entirely clear but it emerged later on Monday that the dispute stemmed from an attempt to steal a $155 Track Star jumper from the victim.
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What was the evacuation at Westfield Marion?
When the incident occurred, alarms sounded over the centre’s speakers informing shoppers of people armed with weapons and to please leave immediately or lockdown in a shop safely.
Some shoppers reported that while they could hear the alarm, the announcement was “muffled” and many did not know what was going on.
Westfield Marion patron Kelly Taylor was in the cinema watching Bad Boys when the alarms and announcement went off.
“We thought it was a part of the movie,” she said.
Eventually employees rushed into the cinema and told them to evacuate.
Signs with the words “armed offender” and “escape, hide, tell” appeared across the centre.
Shoppers, some as young as 12, were trapped inside by themselves, while loved ones lined the outside of the centre waiting for them.
Another shopper called Lee said she was hiding out in the centre’s skate shop with a young boy who had been separated from his mum, who was in the nail salon.
“He was crying but we almost made a little community, like we were all one,” Lee said.
How long were people locked down?
The incident occurred just before 3pm.
By the time police arrived, Westfield Marion had enacted its emergency protocols which meant some shoppers were forced to lockdown in stores.
At 4.55pm, the first of the shoppers exited the store after two hours of being trapped, waiting for news.
Parents of a 32-year-old woman were waiting by the Marion shopping centre for their daughter to walk through the automatic doors and into their arms.
“She was getting her nails done, an hour’s peace to herself,” the mum, who asked to remain anonymous, said.
Their daughter, who is a mother of two young children herself, spent the two hours hiding in a cupboard in the nail salon frightened for her life.
While locked in the cupboard she texted her mum, who was waiting outside the centre for her along with the woman’s dad: “I’m scared mum x”.
The parents were waiting with another mum who was anxiously waiting to be reunited with her 12-year-old daughter who was trapped in Ghanda with her dad.
“It’s scary,” the mum said.
All families eventually were reunited around 5pm when hundreds of patrons exited through the doors.
How many people were injured?
While police believe no injuries were a result of the altercation itself, a 77-year-old woman reportedly sustained a fracture while attempting to evacuate the centre, while a 14-year-old was also injured trying to escape.
Who has been arrested?
Despite a “thorough search” of the centre, police were unable to locate the groups involved in the altercation at the time.
However on Monday morning police revealed that two boys, aged 15 and 16 of Mitchell Park and Adelaide, had been arrested and charged with assault, affray and aggravated robbery.
Police also seized two expandable batons.
The appeared in the Adelaide Youth Court on Monday.
A third teenager – a Morphett Vale boy, 15, was arrested later on Monday and also charged with assault, affry and aggravated robbery. He is expected to appear in Christies Beach Youth Court on Monday.
“I do encourage anyone with information who knows their identity or has vision or any observations of what occurred and hasn’t been spoken to by police (to do so),” Assistant Police Commissioner Scott Duval said.
Mr Duval said the boys involved in the incident appear to be known to each other.
“I would say … this is not a random attack,” he said.
Was there a link between Westfield Bondi Junction and Westfield Marion?
The incident follows the tragedy at Westfield Bondi Junction were 40-year-old Joe Cauchi stabbed and murdered six people and injured another 12, including a baby girl, on April 30 before he was killed by police.
Many patrons at the time feared they had been caught up in a similar situation to Westfield Bondi Junction.
Shopper Ashlee said she’d been “waiting for something like this to happen since Sydney”.
“When it happened I wasn’t surprised,” she said.
One shopper, who did not wish to be named, said she was in a changing room trying on clothes when the evacuation happened.
“It’s so scary – for it to happen in Adelaide after what happened in Sydney is terrifying,” she said.
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