Teens armed with machetes brawl at CS Square Shopping Centre in Caroline Springs
As many as six machete-carrying teens have terrorised shoppers at CS Square Shopping Centre in Caroline Springs, less than a fortnight after a ban on dangerous knives came into force.
Victoria
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A gang of machete wielding teenagers have thrust another Melbourne shopping centre in lockdown, only two weeks after brawling gangs sparked terror at Northland.
Up to six teens armed with machetes were involved in a confrontation at CS Square Shopping Centre in Caroline Springs in Melbourne’s west about 6:40pm Friday.
Bhanush Sharma, a shopkeeper at Mister Minit, described his horrifying experience where he was forced to flee his store while the centre was plunged into an almost 30 minute-long lockdown.
“It was very terrible,” Mr Sharma told the Herald Sun.
“My store doesn’t have any shutters, it’s just open so I thought what if they came here and they ask me for some money or something.
“We heard an announcement over the loudspeaker that it was an emergency – after that I just went outside.
“I didn’t even keep the cash in the store, I took all the cash with me.
“After about 20 – 25 minutes we got the announcement that the situation is under control.”
A police spokeswoman said five to six males armed with machetes were reportedly arguing inside the shopping centre just after 6:30pm.
When police arrived at the shopping centre, all those involved fled the scene.
A police investigation into the matter remains ongoing and there were no reported injuries.
The latest mall violence comes after a ban on the sale of machetes was fast-tracked by the Allan government two weeks ago.
Last month at least five youths armed with machetes took over the CS Square carpark in what appeared to be an attempted carjacking.
The Herald Sun last week revealed that violence at shopping centres has been spiralling out of control for years.
New statistics showed assaults at these locations have more than doubled since 2014.
Originally published as Teens armed with machetes brawl at CS Square Shopping Centre in Caroline Springs
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