A 16-year-old boy has been charged after he allegedly brandished a large knife during a fight with a group of men that led to the closure of a Perth Westfield shopping centre.
An altercation between two groups of men broke out at the Westfield Carousel shopping center in Cannington, in the city’s south-east, at around 3.30pm on Friday.
Initial reports said a 20-year-old man had been slashed in the face with a knife, but police have since confirmed his injuries were caused by a punch.
A 16-year-old boy was arrested Saturday morning and has been charged with one count of being armed in a manner likely to cause fear and one count of robbery.
He is remanded in custody and is due to appear at Perth Youth Court on Sunday.
The 20-year-old man allegedly grabbed the knife from the teen’s hand and threw it.
The teen then allegedly grabbed a second knife and police confiscated both weapons.
A 16-year-old boy has been charged for allegedly brandishing a large knife during a fight with a group of men at a Perth Westfield shopping centre.
“Cannington detectives would like to reassure the public that there is no ongoing threat to the public or cause for alarm,” WA Police said in a statement.
Terrifying footage of the incident showed a shirtless man running towards a group of people while allegedly wielding a knife.
Among those who fled the alleged killer was at least one child in a school uniform.
Shoppers screamed as they sought shelter in nearby stores.
The shopping complex was closed on Friday afternoon and several police units were called to the scene.
A shopper was with her 13-year-old son at Jay Jays clothing store when she saw the fight begin.
He said a group of men who appeared to be between 18 and 19 years old said something to another shopper.
‘This guy turned around and said ‘What did you say?’ “What did you say?” the woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told Daily Mail Australia.
She said the other man then met up with his friends and confronted the group, leading to a physical fight.
“Everyone was punching, ripping off their jerseys, getting down to business,” he said.
“We couldn’t get through and I didn’t want to go in the opposite direction and turn my back on them.
‘You do not know what to do. I told my son “back off, back off.”
The woman then claimed that one of them pulled a 30cm knife out of his pants.
“I told my son, ‘Run to the store and hide behind the counter.’ I panicked,” she said.
“I told the assistant, ‘Call security, call security, he has a knife.’
The mother and her son hid in a Footlocker store with two other shoppers and two employees while she begged them to close the doors.
The chaos began when a fight broke out between two men, one allegedly armed with a knife, at the Westfield Carousel shopping center in the city’s south-east at around 3.30pm on Friday (pictured, shoppers locked in at Kmart).
“They have closed their doors, all the other stores have closed their doors and these people are still fighting,” the mother said.
The police arrived at the complex and closed it, and the buyers were not allowed to leave.
“The police were running up and down the elevators,” the mother said, adding that the experience had left her “shocked.”
The tragic events of the Bondi Junction stabbing murders were on his mind.
“In recent weeks all we’ve heard about is stabbings or knife incidents,” he said.
“I’m glad that we and no one around us were hurt and that it wasn’t as bad as Sydney. It all happened very quickly.”
In the Bondi Junction stabbings, lone man Joel Cauchi, 40, killed six people and injured a dozen more on April 13.
This was followed by a series of knife crime incidents, including an assault on an Assyrian Christian bishop during a live-streamed church service.
The shopping center was closed after a teenager allegedly brandished a knife.
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was preaching at Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, in Sydney’s west, on April 15 when a teenager wearing a hoodie approached the altar and allegedly stabbed him several times.
Horrific footage of the incident, which was streamed live on the church’s YouTube page, showed Bishop Emmanuel looking on in shock as the attacker suddenly rained blows on his face and head.
In Torquay, Victoria, a man who was allegedly threatened with a knife by former soldier Travis Johnston while holding his 19-month-old son said he immediately thought of the tragedy at Bondi Junction.
And earlier this month, surfer Kye Schaefer, 22, was stabbed at Park Beach in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, while still wearing his wetsuit, at around 6.40am.
