A black saloon was left abandoned after a crash in the Glenfield Mall carpark, sparking a major police operation.
A black saloon was left abandoned after a crash in the Glenfield Mall carpark, sparking a major police operation.
Armed police have descended on Glenfield Mall with shoppers and staff forced to evacuate, and at least four schools sent into lockdown on Auckland’s North Shore.
Glenfield College, Glenfield Intermediate, Glenfield Primary, and Wairau Valley Special School were all advised to take special precautions after a person was spotted witha firearm after a car crash.
“Was just in the supermarket, and turned around with the fire alarm going off and there were 7 cops with guns in the supermarket, the [Glenfield] mall is covered with cops now,” a person wrote on the Glenfield Community Facebook page about 11.30am.
Police said two people were in custody after an incident at Glenfield Mall.
The crashed sedan appeared to have been driven into a pole on the fourth floor of the carpark. The driver’s side and front passenger doors were still open, as was the boot. The engine was still running.
Quin, a worker at a Glenfield Mall restaurant, said he saw a lot of police arrive at the mall with “heavy firearms” before it was evacuated.
His friend, who works on the third floor, texted him and said she “saw a guy throw a gun in the trash”.
Tyler, an employee at a jewellery store in the mall, described the evacuation as “extremely chaotic”.
“I was putting a piercing in and I saw police running past the shop,” she said.
Two customers in the shop rushed out the door as the evacuation was announced.
Shoppers were made to wait outside the building for about 30 to 40 minutes as police patrolled the area with firearms.
But another nearby shop worker said people hadn’t seemed too stressed about the evacuation and “just wanted to return to shopping”.
She said police had arrived at the shopping centre and “shouted the mall’s shut”.
She described the atmosphere as calm.
Glenfield College wrote on Facebook that it had been advised to go into lockdown because of events at Glenfield Mall.
“We will continue to provide updates on our website as often as possible. Please do not come to the school or phone the school as you will not be attended to, and this may cause disruption to the management of this incident and could potentially place yourselves and/or our staff and students’ safety at risk.
“All further updates will be provided on the school website.”
In a message to parents, principal Rakesh Govind warned them not to visit or contact the school or their children via phone or email, stating that any further updates would be shared on the school website.
Wairau Valley Special School said on its website that it had gone into lockdown because of an incident nearby.
“Please do not come to the school or phone the school as you will not be attended to and this may cause disruption to the management of this incident and could potentially place yourselves and/or our staff and students’ safety at risk.”
A video from the scene showed several police vehicles outside the mall as well as groups of shoppers gathered outside after the evacuation.
