Teens’ food court chaos triggers Westfield lockdown

An altercation between two groups of teenagers in a food court has sent a major Adelaide shopping centre into lockdown.

The incident unfolded at Westfield Marion Centre in Adelaide just before 3pm on Sunday and triggered widespread reports of an armed person inside.

Assistant Commissioner Scott Duval said SA Police had reports of two groups of teenage boys fighting in the food court, including some armed with expandable batons.

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

“The expandable batons are seen and at this stage, we cannot discount any other weapons but we have reports that a knife may be involved.”

Mr Duval said three boys chased the other teenagers through the centre and entered the David Jones store.

“That was the first part of our focus of where we put our specialist attention, to start clearing the centre to ensure the safety of all people could be assured,” he said.

“We are at the point now where we are able to clear the centre safely with specialist police and allow people that were still sheltered in place to leave.”

The teenagers involved in the incident have yet to be located but police said they were “confident” the groups would be tracked down.

A 77-year-old woman suffered a shoulder injury while fleeing the centre and another person in their 30s suffered a knee injury, South Australia Ambulance Service said.

One of the patients was being transferred to the Flinders Medical Centre for treatment and paramedics remained at the shopping centre, a spokesman said.

A young woman, who was in the cinema when the commotion began, told ABC News how it unfolded.

“We were in the movies and we just heard this noise going on saying ’emergency’… and nobody really knew what it was – if it was a phone or something,” she said.

“Someone went out of the movies and all of a sudden everyone just came running in – just sprinting incoming, yelling ‘run, run’.

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

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

Social media footage from shoppers showed armed officers storming into the centre while dozens of shoppers attempted to run to safety.