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<\/p>\nRebecca Grace was shopping with friends when the suspects charged through the shopping centre within metres of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne had what appeared to be a small knife,\u201d she said. \u201cThe tactical response and public order response [teams were there]\u2026 I\u2019ve never seen so many cops in my life.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone was just in shock. There was this massive bystander effect. Then I got my phone out and was able to follow what was happening prior to the arrest.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Police] didn\u2019t have a chance to do any blocking-off of streets or anything. It literally happened in front of everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grace was working as a paralegal on Bourke Street the day of the Gargasoulas rampage and said, just like that day eight years ago, there was a weird energy in the mall following today\u2019s incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy friends all went home and had anxiety attacks. It\u2019s definitely shaken them up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police confirmed the BMW was spotted in Doncaster before being followed into the city where the pedestrian was reportedly struck on Exhibition Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe BMW, believed to have been stolen from the Boroondara area yesterday, was dumped a short time later on Bourke Street Mall and the four occupants fled on foot,\u201d a police statement said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were arrested a short time later outside a shopping centre on Lonsdale Street.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two 17-year-olds, a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old from the Bendigo and Yarra Ranges areas were arrested.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Police have arrested four teenagers after a pursuit across Melbourne ended in Bourke Street Mall.Credit: Nine News<\/p>\n
Premier Jacinta Allan thanked police for quickly apprehending the suspects.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy thoughts are with the pedestrian who was injured as well as those who witnessed this event,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is disgraceful, dangerous behaviour. Victorians won\u2019t tolerate it and neither will we.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Before today\u2019s Bourke Street incident, Allan had appeared with Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush at the National Police Remembrance Day event in the city.<\/p>\n
There Bush said the increasing crime phenomenon \u201cmust be turned around\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe as Victoria Police must challenge ourselves to police differently so that we\u2019re not just responding to crime,\u201d he said while observing National Police Remembrance Day.<\/p>\n
Standing by his side, Allan said recent bail and youth justice law changes by her government were working to reduce crime.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurning around that increase [is] going to take a lot of work, by Victoria Police,\u201d she said. \u201cIf there\u2019s more work that we need to do to strengthen the laws and provide support, we\u2019ll do that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s also important \u2026 to recognise the changed circumstances that we\u2019re in in 2025 that weren\u2019t there just a year or two or a few years ago. It\u2019s a changed environment that Victoria Police [and] teachers in our classroom are operating in.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s ensuring that the programs we have for the future are tackling both the competitive measures stopping particular kids from getting into that criminal behaviour, and then looking at the programs that can support them to turn their lives around.\u201d<\/p>\n