Teenagers armed with batons triggered Adelaide Westfield lockdown, police say

Lina Portman2 weeks ago

0 2 minutes read

Key points

Police had received reports of two groups of teenagers fighting in the food court.
The teenagers involved in the incident have not yet been located.
Footage posted on social media of shoppers showed heavily armed police storming the center as the incident unfolded.

Teenagers armed with extendable batons sparked a major police intervention at an Adelaide shopping center, which was placed on lockdown.

Shoppers at the Westfield Marion Center in Adelaide were asked to stay away from the area on Sunday afternoon.

South Australian Police Deputy Commissioner Scott Duvall said police were called to the scene after 2.52pm when police received reports of two groups of teenagers fighting in the food court, some of whom were armed with extendable batons.

“(A group) approached another group of boys and an altercation took place,” he told reporters at the scene on Sunday.

“The extendable batons are visible and at this stage we cannot rule out any other weapons but we have reports that a knife may be involved.”

Duval said three boys chased the other teens through the center and entered the David Jones store.

“That was the first part of our special attention: starting to clean the center to ensure the safety of all people,” he said.

“We are now at the point where we can evacuate the center safely with specialist police and allow people who were still housed there to leave.”

Police are confident the fight between the two groups of teenagers was not a random attack. Source: PAA / Matt Turner

The teenagers involved in the incident have not yet been located, but police said they were “confident” the groups would be found.

There is no ongoing threat to the community, according to police.

“I would say it's clear from the vision that this is not a random attack,” Duval said.

“It appears the boys are known to each other, but we are obviously still in the early days of investigating the incident.”

Duval said police response to such incidents had changed since the Bondi attack earlier this year.

Six people were killed and several injured after a man attacked shoppers with a knife at a Westfield shopping center in Bondi Junction, Sydney on April 13.

“These types of reactions to these incidents are very much influenced by incidents like Bondi,” Duval said.

“We have a fantastic relationship with these retailers and the exercise is what allows us to put together a really good response.”

Police said no customers appeared to have been injured in the fight, although a woman in her 70s was treated for a broken bone and another person for a non-life-threatening injury suffered by continued during the evacuation process.

Photos of large digital signs inside the center warned members of the public of the presence of an armed offender in the complex.

Footage posted on social media of shoppers showed armed officers barging into the center as dozens of shoppers tried to reach safety.

A young woman, who was at the theater when the commotion began, told ABC News how it all unfolded.

“We were in a movie and we just heard this noise saying 'emergency'… and no one really knew what it was – if it was a phone or something,” she said .

“Someone came out of the cinema and all of a sudden everyone came running – running and shouting 'run, run'.

“Then we got up and started sprinting towards the fire exit.”

Key points

Lina Portman

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