Three youths have now been arrested in the wake of the Westfield Marion lockdown, which began just before 3pm on Sunday.

Two youths aged 15 and 16 from Mitchell Park and Adelaide were charged on Sunday night with assault, affray and aggravated robbery. Police said two expandable batons were seized, and the youths appeared in the Adelaide Youth Court today.

A 15-year-old boy from Morphett Vale was arrested today and will appear in the Christies Beach Youth Court.

Police said they had reports that two groups of teenage boys, including some with extendable batons, were fighting in the Westfield Marion food court before one group was chased through the centre and into a David Jones store.

“As a result of the incident, centre management activated an audible alert and evacuation alarm, and the centre went into lockdown,” police said.

Shoppers took refuge in stores and large digital signs inside the centre warned of an armed offender in the complex.

Armed police entered the centre while dozens of people attempted to run to safety. A 77-year-old woman suffered a shoulder injury while another injured a knee.

One woman who was in a cinema told how the incident 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.”

Today, the Premier said that “the response from Westfield security – I think it’s easy to say with hindsight that it was an overreaction”.

“I think the reality is post-Bondi, there is a heightened sense of alert from Westfield and shopping centre operators which is understandable,” he said.

Three months ago, a man with a knife killed six people at a Westfield mall in Sydney’s Bondi Junction.

“Some kids yesterday got in a brawl over what sounds like not very much and it then precipitated a response from Westfield security that then led to a degree of chaos and alarm throughout the centre,” Malinauskas said.

“Which begs the question, what were these kids thinking? Where are the parents? Because in today’s day and age, particularly post Bondi, people have got a heightened degree of alert, particularly private security from a shopping centre.

“So it’s easy for us to say in hindsight that it was a massive overreaction, and I get that, but they’ve also got to act on the side of caution as well.”

Malinauskas said he had spoken directly to Police Commissioner Grant Stevens during the incident and said getting accurate information out to the public as quickly as possible was essential.

“There was rapid public messaging happening within Westfield Shopping Centre, there was a question whether or not that messaging reflecting what was actually happening,” he said.

“There was a lot happening in a short time. There was an awful lot of misinformation that was being communicated. The rumour mill cranked up quickly which happens in the social media age.

“I think South Australia Police handled the situation as best they could given some of the misinformation that was being reported. Given the amount of misinformation that heightened the alarm yesterday, I think they handled the situation as best they could.”

Malinauskas said SA Police would now review the incident including communications, but he was “loathe to pile in on” Westfield management for its response given the circumstances.

“Westfield enacted a whole range of emergency protocols without much reference to South Australia Police, and that is something that’ll be looked at during the course of the review,” he said.

“Put yourself in Westfield’s shoes. Imagine if it ended up being very serious and they hadn’t escalated their concern quickly. Then everyone would be scrutinising that.

“It’s not their fault this happened, it’s because of a group of young muppets who decided to get in a brawl in a food court over goodness knows what. They’re the ones that deserve scrutiny of their actions.”

– with AAP