Terrified parents have fled a Melbourne shopping centre with their children after a bloody fight broke out between a group of machete-wielding youths.
The group clashed inside the Woodgrove Shopping Centre at Melton in Melbourne’s north-west at about 5pm on Monday.
Witnesses claim those involved, who were described as teenagers and Sudanese, were armed with a variety of weapons and were seen waving knives and throwing chairs during the melee.
One woman said she fled the centre with her children after spotting a man ‘waving a machete around’.
‘Kids brawling, throwing chairs around … Ran out with my kids and advised everyone walking in to turn around,’ she wrote on social media.
Police have arrested two boys, aged 15 and 16, following a bloody brawl at Woodgrove shopping centre in Melton, in Melbourne’s north west
During the attack, the teens were seen throwing chairs and swinging machetes and large knives
The woman said she was ‘disgusted’ with the group’s actions, coming just days after after six people were killed in a horror stabbing attack at Westfield Bondi Junction last Saturday.
‘You would think these idiots would take pause after what happened in Bondi. I’m so disgusted that I had to explain to my five-year-old why we had to run out of the shops,’ she wrote.
‘Woodgrove needs a police presence for all hours that it’s open and these little turds need harsher punishments. There is zero value for human life.’
Another shopper said she and her three children hid inside the baby changing rooms with other scared mothers.
‘It was a machete that a teen pulled out,’ she wrote on Facebook. ‘Happened right where the play area is in front of the parents/babies changing room.
‘My three kids and I ran into the parents’ room with a group of mums and young kids. Sad that my six-year-old was so scared because he saw the machete.’
Another witness explained people started ‘throwing things’ at one of those involved after he walked into the food court with a ‘large knife’.
Three were spotted leaving the shopping centre covered in blood, with one holding a jumper to his head to cover a wound.
Witnesses claim one of the teens left the centre with a jumper held to his head and covered in blood
Terrified shoppers fled the centre (pictured), while some hid inside shops as the melee unfolded
Victoria Police launched an investigation into the incident after a 15-year-old boy was found injured inside the complex before being taken to hospital.
Two boys, a 15-year-old from Melton South and a 16-year-old from Harkness were arrested on Tuesday and are being interviewed by police.
The 16-year-old has been charged with affray, possessing a prohibited weapon and being armed with criminal intent. He is set to face a children’s court on Tuesday afternoon.
Police will charge the 15-year-old with affray, possessing a controlled weapon and being armed with criminal intent and then will be directly presented to a children’s court.
The boy who remains in hospital will be interviewed about the incident once he is released.
Police are urging anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
It comes after six innocent shoppers – including five women and one man – were fatally stabbed in a horror attack at Westfield Bondi Junction at about 3.20pm on Saturday.
The knifeman, Joel Cauchi, 40, was seen walking through the centre wielding a 30cm hunting knife and stabbing shoppers at random.
Twelve others – including a nine-month-old baby – were seriously wounded before NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott single-handedly confronted Cauchi and shoot him dead.
