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Two people have been arrested and a third man hospitalised after a machete brawl between youth gang members at a shopping centre in Melbourne’s north.
Police and paramedics were called to Northland Shopping Centre in Preston just after 2:30pm on Sunday, following reports of several people fighting each other and wielding machetes.
The shopping centre was put into lockdown, with shoppers hiding inside stores as police swarmed the scene. The centre remains closed while police continue investigations.
Two people have been arrested, including a 15-year-old boy who was taken into custody at the scene.
Victoria Police said eight other people were in the process of being identified.
One man has been taken to hospital with serious but stable injuries.
“There was two rival gangs,” Superintendent Kelly Lawson said in a press conference on Sunday evening.
“They had a pre-meeting to meet up at the shopping centre where there was an affray, so in effect, a fight between those two rival gangs.”
Lawson said the incident was perhaps “an act of retaliation”.
“This was not just some random thing that happened. It was a pre-organised gang meet-up.”
She said that members of the public, including children, witnessed the altercation.
“Members of the public — it would have been absolutely frightening to witness what they saw today on a Sunday afternoon. Parents with their children. [It’s] absolutely frightening and they should not have been exposed to what we saw here today.”
There were no firearms involved in the incident.
Investigators are hoping to speak with anyone in the area at the time and who may have witnessed the incident.
Lawson said there were around 40 youth gangs in Victoria and the police force was doing what it could to combat its growth.
