Seven boys were arrested following an alleged violent stabbing which unfolded in front of shocked shoppers at a Melbourne shopping centre on Friday.
9News can exclusively reveal two of the teenagers allegedly involved were already on bail for an alleged hit and run in Warranwood last month, which left their 14-year-old female passenger fighting for life.
The recent alleged incident broke out between the group inside Westfield Doncaster’s food court yesterday, in front of families eating dinner.
Security guards were forced to use chairs to block the alleged offenders as heavily armed police were called in about 5.30pm.
Police alleged a box cutter was used to stab three boys, who were all taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Seven teenagers aged between 13 and 17 were arrested, including two of the three boys hospitalised.
Five have since been released on either bail or pending further investigation.
A 15-year-old and 16-year-old faced court this evening.
“It’s not good. Teenagers, it’s happening a lot these days. It’s scary,” one shopper said.
“We were a bit cautious coming here just because we didn’t know what was gonna happen,” another said.
“It’s scary coming to shopping centres. You see this happening all the time now. Something needs to change,” a third said.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said officers are focused on holding youth offenders to account.
“We’ve certainly had significant offending and we are totally focused on holding youth offenders to account,” he said.
“We are throwing everything we can to make the community safer.”
Westfield Doncaster has since offered counseling to staff members and has bolstered security throughout the centre.