A man who tore through Melbourne’s Northland shopping centre yesterday in a stolen Toyota LandCruiser 200 Series has been arrested.
Police allege the 27-year-old East Melbourne man crashed through the shopping centre while evading police, after centre security notified police of the stolen vehicle at around 4:00pm yesterday (June 18).
When the driver returned to his stolen vehicle, police tried to block him in but he allegedly evaded them by driving through the middle of the shopping centre.
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Multiple people captured footage of the incident on their phones, though fortunately nobody was struck by the vehicle. One person was, however, treated for shock.
Footage shows shoppers running to get out of the way of the speeding vehicle, including a mother and child.
The vehicle was subsequently dumped in Northcote, with police finding it at around 5:10pm.
Victoria Police says the vehicle had been stolen from an Ivanhoe East address on June 2, and believe an electronic key reprogramming tool was used to carry out the theft.
The alleged thief was arrested at 8:30am this morning, and the reprogramming tool was seized. Victoria Police says it’s not looking for anyone else in relation to the incident.
The episode was reminiscent of a scene in the hit 1980 film The Blues Brothers, in which the protagonists crash through a shopping centre while being pursued by police.
Northland Shopping Centre is open for trading today.