00:00I'm at the front of Northland Shopping Centre here in Melbourne.
00:05It's one of the largest shopping centres in the city.
00:09Thousands of people come here to shop every single day.
00:13And yesterday at four o'clock in the afternoon,
00:15a white Land Cruiser ute was intercepted by police.
00:19It was alleged that the car was stolen.
00:21The driver of the vehicle then rammed the police car twice
00:25before then making a decision to drive through this shopping centre.
00:31Now, people that were in the centre at the time had to flee.
00:35They heard loud bangs.
00:36There was shattering glass.
00:37They had to take shelter inside the shops to try and stay safe.
00:42This is some of the witnesses that were there last night,
00:46and here's what they had to say.
00:48The white ute has done a u-turn, at least got only 30, at least, maybe 40,
00:53straight through, broken a bunch of these yellow pylons,
00:56straight through the door.
00:58I was getting my nails done, and then I just heard so much loud noise,
01:02and then I looked to my left, and then I seen a car,
01:04this white car just driving fast.
01:06I honestly feel for my life because after what happened a couple of weeks ago
01:10with the stabbing, and now a car's gone through the building,
01:13it's kind of frightening.
01:16It was terrifying for these witnesses,
01:19and it is a miracle that no-one was seriously injured or worse.
01:23Now, behind me is the exit of where the car made its way out.
01:28There were two bollards there at the time.
01:30There's only one there now.
01:32These are a stainless steel bollard.
01:34They are empty on the inside,
01:35so one is completely toppled over and has been removed.
01:38Now, in its place are two large ceramic pots
01:42with the trees and plants in it.
01:44They've boarded up where the glass doors would have been.
01:49So it's business as usual for the centre
01:52that opened at 9 o'clock this morning.
01:55I caught up with Nancy.
01:56I just wanted to know how she was feeling
01:59about being at the centre this morning.
02:01Did she feel safe and comfortable to come along?
02:04Here's what she had to say.
02:06I'm not going to let some idiot,
02:08or these young ones,
02:11stop me from doing what I do all the time.
02:13I come here all the time.
02:17And Nancy is one of many people I've spoken to this morning.
02:20They're here.
02:21This is their home.
02:23This is their town.
02:24This is where they come every morning.
02:26I also caught up with Paul,
02:28and he talked about in the strip where the car drove through
02:31just how scary it would have been
02:34in regards to the surrounding areas.
02:36This is what he had to say.
02:37Just in that immediate area,
02:41just before Target,
02:42you've got this little, like, play area set up for kids.
02:46And my understanding is that around about 3 o'clock
02:49in that afternoon there were kids, you know,
02:52riding on those little, you know, motorised animals or whatever.
02:56It's normally jam-packed.
02:59And just something as freakish as that as, you know,
03:01a car coming through,
03:03and it's astounding that people weren't injured or killed.
03:10So this morning people are wondering, you know,
03:14what could happen next,
03:16but also just so grateful that nothing more serious did happen.
03:20And has there been an update from police this morning?
03:25Look, the police update is that they are still on the hunt for the driver.
03:30They have urged him to come forward himself.
03:34Meredith, for the driver,
03:35it's not a matter of if the police will find him, it's when.
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