Crown Casino: Man, 55, charged over Crown Casino incident
A MALAYSIAN man has been charged with making threats to kill following yesterday’s dramatic Crown Casino incident which forced a mass evacuation of the complex.
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UPDATE: A MALAYSIAN man will face court today over yesterday’s dramatic Crown Casino incident which forced a mass evacuation of the complex.
The 55-year-old was charged with making threats to kill, making false reports to police and making false statements.
He was remanded and will appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court later today.
The area around Crown Casino was deemed safe by police last night after a man with a backpack behaving “erratically” forced a mass evacuation of the complex, spilling terrified workers and diners out onto the street.
Police responded to multiple reports of the suspicious man about 3.30pm yesterday on the first floor of the building.
Members of the special operation group, critical incident response and bomb squad descended on the area and quickly arrested a 55-year-old man.
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Nothing was found inside the man’s backpack.
Special Operations Group officers could be seen leaving the casino’s Clarendon St entrance shortly after 7pm. The area was deemed safe by police about 7.20pm.
“Police are in the process of clearing the scene and Crown Casino will reopen to the public shortly,” a police spokesperson said.
Sisters Ann and Barbara Hodgson said they saw the “bomb robot” enter the building about 6pm.
“It came up on its tractor wheels and went through the front door,” Ms Hodgson said.
The sisters said the robot stayed for about an hour before leaving.
Acting Commander David Clayton said there were no injuries to the suspect, police or public and the man did not resist arrest.
It is understood the man was heard “making statements” before he was arrested.
“It was the way he was acting and behaving ... he complied with the police request when we arrested him,” Acting Commander David Clayton said.
He asked people to stay away from the Southbank end of Crown Casino until the area was deemed safe.
Acting Commander Clayton said the investigation was ongoing and police would not yet rule out other arrests.
He would not confirm whether Counter Terrorism was involved in the investigation.
It is understood the first floor, cinemas and parts of the Southbank promenade were all evacuated while some people sheltered inside the building.
Gaurav Dhawan was working at Italian restaurant Cervo on the first floor when he and his colleagues received an automated text message from Crown telling him to evacuate.
“At first I thought it was a hoax,” Mr Dhawan said.
“It was pretty scary, we didn’t know what was going on,” he said.
Mr Dhawan said he and staff had to tell diners in the restaurant to leave their meals and get out immediately.
Paul Filakis was in the cinema when it was evacuated.
“I was watching a movie with my wife for our anniversary,” he said.
“We were told there was an incident and we needed to evacuate. We couldn’t get anymore information,” Mr Filakis said.
Workers in the food court said they saw people running for the doors after receiving an emergency text message.
Rex Chauasoodhe said it was the first time he’d been evacuated in nine years of working at the casino.
“We didn’t know what was going on, all of a sudden people just started running,” he said.
“We still don’t know what’s going on, we haven’t been told anything since the text message,” he said.