Westfield Marion: Shocking new CCTV emerges of the teenage altercation that sparked a shopping centre lockdown
Chilling CCTV footage of an alleged brawl between two groups of teenage boys over a designer hoodie that sent one of Adelaide’s largest shopping centers into lockdown has been broadcast publicly for the first time.
The incident happened just before 3pm on Sunday at the Westfield Marion Center in Adelaide and led to widespread reports of an armed person inside and a massive police response.
CCTV footage with a time stamp of 2.46pm obtained by Seven News shows a panicked boy trying to sprint away before being cut off by three others meters away from a food court takeaway.
Two of his accused attackers reportedly brandished extendable batons, while the third was reportedly armed with a machete.
Police allege the boy was robbed of his $155 Trapstar hoodie off camera.
Two boys, aged 15 and 16, were arrested and each charged with assault, affray and aggravated robbery, South Africa police announced on Monday.
A third boy, also 15, was later charged with the same offenses after he allegedly pulled a machete from his trousers and was caught by police wearing the stolen designer hoodie.
It is alleged the youths had a machete and clubs with them when they tried to rob another boy of his designer sweater.
The altercation prompted Westfield staff to raise the alarm, leading to a lockdown in horrific scenes reminiscent of the fatal stab bath at Westfield Bondi Junction two months ago.
Terrified families were among those caught up in the chaos in Westfield Marion on Sunday
Thousands of customers fled the scene, while others were locked in stores for two hours until police declared the scene clear shortly after 5 p.m.
Seven News reported that police are reviewing the CCTV footage, along with hours of additional security video footage that captured the allegedly armed trio’s movements through the centre.
The three youths will appear again in the Adelaide Youth Court in July.
Assistant Commissioner Scott Duval previously said police had received reports of two groups fighting in the food court.
“(One group) approached another group of boys and an altercation ensued,” he told reporters Sunday evening.
“The expandable batons are being seen and at this stage we cannot discount any other weapons.”
Three boys allegedly chased another group of teenagers through the center and entered David Jones’ store.
Heavily armed police officers secured the Adelaide shopping center by 5pm and all remaining customers were allowed to leave
A 77-year-old woman suffered a shoulder injury while fleeing the center and another woman in her 30s suffered a knee injury.
A young woman who was in the theater when the commotion began told ABC News how it unfolded.
“We were in the movie theater and all we heard was a noise that said ’emergency’… and no one really knew what it was — if it was a phone or something,” she said.
‘Someone left the cinema and suddenly everyone came running in, just sprinting in, shouting ‘run, run’.
“Then we got up and started sprinting towards the emergency exit.”
Large digital screens in the center warned the public of an armed perpetrator in the complex.
Social media footage from shoppers showed armed officers rushing into the center as dozens of people tried to run to safety.
The lockdown comes less than three months after a man armed with a 30cm knife attacked shoppers at Westfield Bondi Junction in Sydney’s east, killing six people, including a security guard.
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