Shoppers react to horror machete lockdown in Melbourne
A terrified shopper has revealed their desperate bid to save a child injured in a bloody Melbourne shopping centre fight.
Terrified shoppers have spoken out about the moment a Melbourne shopping centre went into lockdown on Sunday.
Emergency services were called to Northland Shopping Centre on Murray Rd in Preston shortly after 2.30pm following reports of opposing groups fighting, some armed with knives.
Two people were taken to hospital with injuries and shoppers were told to stay inside for almost an hour.
According to 7News, two people have been arrested – one 15-years-old.
Witnesses told of their terror at seeing a machete, with one man revealing his desperate bid to help an injured child.
“We rushed the kid (who had severe upper body wounds) over to the Gelatissimo – two girls looked after him very well – it was pretty gory,” the man told 9 News.
Another shopper told of how a wounded accused had a “big machete still in his stomach”.
Meanwhile, a woman recalled how she “glanced over and he was holding quite a big machete”.
Others described the scene as “crazy, hectic”.
Another witness told 7 News that the incident “reminded her of what happened in Bondi, seeing everyone run and seeing the machete how big it was as well”.
“There was some blood on the floor and there were just people crying, including kids as well, so everyone was pretty shaken up,” the shopper explained
While a male shopper said: “I saw two guys with ski masks and hoodies and then I saw security following them and I turned to my right and I saw an avalanche of people streaming coming from the food court.”
The lockdown sparked chaos at the busy centres, with shoppers sharing unverified images and video online. Two separate video posted to Facebook showed a man on the ground being restrained.
“Tell people not to go there at the present time until its given the all-clear,” Bill, whose daughter was at the centre, told 3AW.
Liberal Northern Metropolitan Region MP Evan Mulholland called on locals to avoid the area in a social media post shortly before 4pm.
“Avoid the area. Police operation is ongoing,” he said.
“Several offenders spotted machetes.”
The exact circumstances surrounding the incident are being investigated but police believe the incident was targeted and parties are believed to be known to each other.
The shopping centre remains closed tonight.
Originally published as Shoppers react to horror machete lockdown in Melbourne
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