A large group of youths has terrorised shoppers and staff at a department store in Hobart’s northern suburbs, reigniting community concern about youth crime.
Between 15 and 20 young people reportedly stormed Big W in Glenorchy twice within a 10-minute period on Tuesday, causing significant disruption and targeting staff members.
Witnesses report the youths jumped behind the technology desk, pulled products from shelves and intimidated a worker in what appeared to be a coordinated attack.
“My Mum and I were very stressed and so were a lot of other customers, mainly elderly and children,” said one shopper who witnessed the incident.
“I took a video to get some of their faces at least to expose them and make people aware who these terrorists are.”
The footage, which quickly went viral on social media, captures screams from frightened shoppers with people heard yelling “stop it” and “oi, stop” as the youths continued their rampage.
The incident has sparked outrage online, with many commenters suggesting it reflects a broader issue of youth accountability.
“This is the repercussions of youth having no repercussions for their stupid behaviour. Shameful,” wrote one social media user.
Police Minister Felix Ellis said he was “appalled” at the behaviour he saw in the video.
“ There is absolutely no excuse for this in our community,” he told Pulse.
“Tasmanians deserve to not only feel safe, but be safe when they are going about their business.”
“ We’ve taken strong action to crack down on crime with the establishment of Taskforces, such as Saturate and Reprisal in the Southern District, Taskforce Raven in the North, and Taskforce Scelus in the Western District.”
“These Taskforces have shown strong success in tackling repeat offenders.”
In a statement to Pulse, a Tasmania Police spokesperson said no charges have been laid in relation to the incident.
“At this stage in the investigation police believe the disturbance involved two groups of youths who were known to each other,” they said.
“Police investigations are following a specific line of enquiry.”
