Northland shopping centre placed into lockdown after machete brawl

A 15-year-old boy is among those arrested over a machete brawl between “rival gangs” that left shoppers running for their lives and others locked inside.

Northland shopping centre was plunged into lockdown and at least one person was injured after a wild brawl broke out between a group of about 10 people armed with machetes.

Dozens of police vehicles swarmed the front of the shopping centre as crowds of shoppers tried to evacuate on Sunday afternoon, while many patrons were locked inside amid the chaos.

Shoppers were barricaded inside as the chaos unfolded. Picture: Facebook

Two people were arrested following the 10-person brawl.

One of the people arrested was a 15-year-old boy.

Victoria Police Superintendent Kelly Lawson said the brawl was a planned meet-up between opposing groups.

“A fight between two rival gangs occurred in the food court,” Superintendent Lawson said.

“It was a planned event, they had prearranged to meet here,” she said.

Superintendent Kelly Lawson speaking to media on Sunday. Picture: Josie Hayden

Emergency crews at Northland on Sunday afternoon. Picture: Josie Hayden

Police said the brawl was prearranged. Picture: Josie Hayden

Ten people were involved in the wild brawl. Picture: Josie Hayden

“It is said to have been an act of retaliation … not just a random attack.

“It’s happened in a busy shopping centre, so there clearly was a risk to the public, there’s always a risk to the public,” she said.

“But what the public need to take comfort in is that this wasn’t just some people that went out to attack general people with the public, they were attacking each other. It was planned.”

Superintendent Lawson said one machete had been located but no guns were involved.

She said multiple units responded to the shopping centre within six minutes of being alerted to the unfolding chaos.

Anyone who witnessed the incident is being encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers.

Shoppers have reported being locked inside stores at Northland while the chaos unfolded. Picture: Instagram

At least one person was taken to hospital after suffering serious upper body injuries in the chaos.

Ambulance Victoria confirmed a man in his 20s was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital in a serious condition.

An Ambulance Victoria spokesman said paramedics treated three people at the scene for anxiety.

Two men have been arrested over the incident. Picture: Facebook

Multiple people posted to social media reporting they were locked inside stores.

Unverified photos were circulating, showing at least one person armed with what appeared to be a machete in an outdoor eating area.

Video from patrons inside Northland showed the panicked and frantic scenes at the time of the incident.

Dozens of people were captured screaming in terror and running through the corridors.

“Everyone is running … what the f**k is happening?” one man was heard yelling several times.

People could be seen turning their heads to a commotion out of view before breaking out into a sprint.

One woman was seen running with her son in her arms, others were seen clutching each others’ hands as they headed for the northwest exit of the shopping centre.

An unverified video shows one man on the ground, held down by a police woman, at the lower ground food court.

Two other officers can be seen running up a walkway – heading further into the shopping centre – that two shoppers have just run down, but other shoppers appear calm or unaware of what is happening.

Footage circulating on social media shows a man pinned to the ground.

Another unverified video shows a man in a beige hoodie holding down a man in blue wearing what appears to be a black mask.

A further video shows the man in blue unmasked with his face bloodied.

Ali Ozeer, a local coffee shop owner, was in the food court when a man aged in his late teens was assaulted with a machete.

“There was a group of kids that were being chased by young bloke wielding a knife in a jumpsuit and then he lashed out at the kid with the machete and he split the kids’s head open,” Ozeer said.

Ozeer and his friend rushed the injured male into a nearby ice cream shop where two young female workers, a first responder and a doctor all worked on the boy.

“He was in and out of consciousness … fighting for his life,” he said.

‘I ran for my life’

One shopper said she felt the most terrified she’s ever been when police ordered the evacuation.

“When they (police) said run, that’s when I ran for my life,” Ersilia said.

She had been inside Pandora when security instructed everyone to move to the back of the store and take cover behind the counter.

“Then they said do what Victoria Police say … and they were saying run don’t walk to your nearest exit.”

A Preston mother of two said she’d only left the shopping centre minutes before the chaos began.

“I’d just left Northland, dropped my groceries to the car and went for a walk.

Suddenly there are helicopters and sirens everywhere. Then my parents from the local primary school group apps are all posting not to go near it,” the 45-year-old told the Herald Sun.

“I go there with my kids every weekend it must be terrifying inside there right now.”

‘Huge crowd of people started running’

One shopper, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Herald Sun she and her mother came within arms’ length of a machete-wielding teen before the centre went into lockdown.

The pair first spotted a group of four to five teenagers “arms full of what looked like jackets and boxes” that dashed past them about 2.30pm.

Following closely behind was a solo teen pointing a machete to the ground.

“(He) walked past us, he could have touched me,” the shopper said.

“He was just jogging along, holding it.

“We just kind of stood there for a second like, ‘what direction should we go? What do we do?’

“Then a huge crowd of people started running.”

The mother-daughter duo sheltered at various stores as the chaos unfolded, left in the dark to the situation without any evacuation instructions from Northland.

“The problem is that (shopkeepers) kept thinking it was safe to let us out – so we waited for five to 10 minutes and then they opened the doors,” she said.

“The evacuation warning didn’t come on until we were in the carpark, 45 minutes after (the attack) started.

“There was no communication – it was just us and shopkeepers making assessments as to whether we should leave or to stay.”

A fellow shopper told the pair she had seen gang members “bleeding all over the shop” with knife wounds.

The shoppers watched from inside the store as one of the teens was arrested by police.

“This is Melbourne, not LA. You don’t walk around the shops thinking ‘am I going to get stabbed today?’,” she said.

Northland shopper Frank said he was locked down in the Target at Northland with other customers and staff.

“There’s police running around everywhere, some have got tasers drawn,” Frank told 3AW.

“A gentleman behind me, his daughter works in one of the shops, (she) called him and she claims there’s people with guns and apparently there has been a stabbing as well.”

He said while he was still locked inside the store, he could see officers running through the corridors.

McDonalds employee Jenson, who was working inside Northland at the time of the incident, said he saw waves of people fleeing.

He said Maccas had closed their doors, with some customers locked in with staff.

Another caller to 3AW told the station “it’s chaos there at the moment, it’s absolute chaos”.

The caller, Chris, said there was no PA system and police officers said “just go, just go” when they reached the exit of the centre.

“There was no PA system,” he said.

“We got in our car, hit gridlock trying to get out.”

He said it cleared after 10 minutes and they were thankfully able to get out.

James, 30, was in the food court when chaos broke out.

“I was at the sushi hub getting food and all of a sudden I turn around then everyone’s just screaming and yelling ‘knife’ and then everyone just starts bolting off into the stores”, James said.

“People were just running all over the place … it was sporadic and hectic … I thought it was a prank at first”.

A picture shows a man pinning another man to the ground.

In a statement made on Sunday evening Premier Jacinta Allan condemned the incident and labelled it “appalling”.

“I want to thank Victoria Police, our first responders and the shop owners, staff and the public who were all incredibly brave responding to this incident,” she said.

“Victoria Police has advised this was a targeted attack and have taken two people into custody. The investigation is ongoing.”

‘Something is very rotten in this state’

The brawl comes just hours after the Herald Sun asked the government whether it should bring forward its machete ban in the wake of an incident in South Melbourne.

Labor MP Steve Dimopoulos said on Sunday morning that there were no plans to do so.

“The joint police say the machete ban can safely be implemented in September. That’s what the Victorian government will do. We’ll follow the police advice,” he said.

Superintendent Kelly Lawson said on Sunday Victoria Police want the machete ban fast-tracked.

“I think that there’s no secret that Victoria Police would like to see those put in place as soon as possible,” Lawson said.

“We are really concerned about the use of edged weapons, but we are doing all that we can in relation to that in making public places safe.”

The opposition called for the government to fast-track the ban and said they were “prepared to work with the Premier to make this happen in Parliament this week”.

“Our thoughts are with those impacted by the shocking scenes at Northland Shopping Centre this afternoon,” opposition leader Brad Battin and opposition spokesman for police David Southwick said in a joint statement.

“No Victorian should ever fear for their safety while doing their shopping on a Sunday afternoon.

“Something is very rotten in this state – we can all feel it.

“Despite years of spiralling machete violence shaming Premier Jacinta Allan into a so-called ban – violent offenders are still rampaging through our communities with these weapons on an almost daily basis. This is not normal – and Victorians know it.

“The safety of Victorians must be a priority and the ban on dangerous machetes must come into effect immediately.”

‘Time to get tough on crime’

Victorian Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive, Paul Guerra said it’s “beyond time to get tough on crime”.

“What happened at Northland shopping centre is not okay,” he said.

“Knife attacks and violence can never be part of our lives in Victoria.”

“Business owners and customers deserve to feel safe and be safe at all times.”

Originally published as Northland shopping centre placed into lockdown after machete brawl