A Melbourne restaurant worker has described the harrowing moment her colleagues tried in vain to save the life of a wounded machete attack victim.
It was about 8.30pm on Friday evening when a 24-year-old man named Clyde was attacked by about 10 men armed with edged weapons including machetes.
Police said the man was chased on foot before being assaulted and stabbed repeatedly in a loading zone of a Lyndhurst shopping centre.
After suffering what would prove to be fatal injuries, the bruised and bloodied man stumbled to a nearby restaurant for help.
Workers at Crust Pizza in the Marriott Waters Shopping Centre offered what medical assistance they could despite knowing the man’s wounds were likely fatal.
‘They tried to help but the cuts were so big there was not much they could do,’ an employee who was not working at the time told Daily Mail .
‘He was bleeding so much.’
Workers immediately called emergency services and told dine-in customers to evacuate, the employee said.
The man had suffered ‘big cuts’ to his stomach and groin and was lying unmoving on the ground by the time the ambulance arrived, she said.
Asked whether her colleagues had been affected by the incident, the employee said they had all been ‘shaken up’.
The victim, whose full name has not yet been released, is believed to have been alone in a parked silver Honda Civic when the men approached his vehicle.
Police said he attempted to drive away after a brief ‘dispute’ with the men before crashing his car into another vehicle.
The 24-year-old then attempted to flee on foot before being caught by the armed assailants.
Police believe the attack was targeted, sparking fears of a retaliatory attack.
Armed Crime Squad detective inspector Adam Tilley told reporters on Saturday police were investigating whether the attack was gang-related.
‘There is always a concern when someone is harmed in the community … if they are affiliated to a gang or a group, there is always a concern of retribution, retaliation,’ he said.
‘I’m not saying that this incident is linked to two gangs but any incident that plays out in this nature involving machetes or edged weapons is a concern to us.’
A crime scene was established around the Marriott Waters Shopping Centre carpark where investigators were pictured examining a silver sedan.
Mr Tilley said some of the alleged attackers fled the scene in the Hyundai which drove north on Society Avenue.
‘We are seeking the public’s assistance to please come forward with any information and to contact Crime Stoppers,’ he said
‘We do believe at this stage … this was a targeted attack and that the parties were known to each other.’
Mr Tilley said the victim’s family had been left ‘traumatised’ by the attack.
Witness and Lyndhurst resident Abhijeet Singh, 35, told the Herald Sun he had seen a ‘group of ten to 20 young people gathered around a silver sedan.’
‘Within seconds, something happened and they were running in every direction, all screaming the same word.’
‘That’s when I saw two guys running towards the Subway, one of them had a machete in his hand.’
The detective inspector said the incident was ‘extremely confronting’ for residents of the rapidly-developing south Melbourne suburb.
He said he was unable to comment on the extent of the injuries but added they were likely ‘horrific’ based on the weapons involved in the attack.
Asked whether any arrests had yet been made, Victoria Police told Daily Mail they had ‘nothing to add’.
The attack comes within days of Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen announcing plans to ban machetes with penalties of two years in prison or fines over $47,000.
If passed into law, the ban would take effect from September 2025 along with expanded knife search powers.
‘Machetes are destroying lives so we will destroy machetes. The places we meet can’t become the places we fear,’ Ms Allen said.
‘I am listening and I am acting, with ’s toughest bail laws and ’s first machete ban.
‘Under my government, community safety comes first and there are consequences for breaking the rules.’