A group of delinquents were caught on camera unsuccessfully trying to break in to a Warehouse in Barrington, Christchurch. Video / Supplied
A Christchurch mall worker has been left unnerved after witnessing a group of people trying to smash their way into The Warehouse with golf clubs and hammers this morning.
Police are working to determine whether the chilling attack is linked to three other early morning incidents around Christchurch.
The witness to the Warehouse attack, who did not want to be named, was working near The Warehouse in Barrington Shopping Centre when he saw two cars pull into the carpark about 6am.
“It looked like early customers, which is nothing unusual ... they parked just out the front of The Warehouse then backed up, which sort of made us stop and look and go ‘that’s really strange at this hour to have two cars parked parallel backed up’,” he told the Herald.
About seven people jumped out of the cars and began taking items from the boots before rushing forward and “smashing the sh*t out of the front door of The Warehouse”.
“[They were] trying to smash the front doors of The Warehouse using what looked like hammers and golf clubs. They made a few holes and they were kicking the absolute crap out of the doors.”
The store’s alarms activated but the witness said the group appeared unfazed.
“Even one of the real short ones that looked like a real young kid was in there swinging like crazy.”
Eventually the group “obviously decided they weren’t going to get in” and turned away.
One of the group turned towards the witness' business briefly and appeared to raise his weapon.
However, one of the group turned towards the shop the man was working in and appeared to raise a weapon briefly in his direction before heading back to the waiting cars.
“It was a little bit nerve-wracking. I didn’t know if they were adjusting their face covering or if they were threatening a weapon or what they were doing. I was hoping they weren’t going to come in to us.”
The man said his business opens at 6am and the incident now has him wondering whether they should be open at that time.
“What do we do? Do we lock ourselves in, do we not have customers, do we have to arm ourselves? There’s so much running through your mind.”
He was concerned at the brazen attitude of the attackers who didn’t seem to care about committing violent crimes with people around to witness.
One of the group even appeared to be filming the attack, he said.
Several of the would-be robbers were brandishing weapons as they were filmed outside The Warehouse in Barrington, Christchurch.
The incident has left him worried about what might happen tonight - whether the attack was random or if they were going to come back and try again, or try to “retaliate” against the man and his co-workers for witnessing it.
“You’ve seen it on the news for so long, you know it’s around, but it really hits home when you see it first-hand and know that they’re probably going to get away with it.”
The man said police were “amazing” and showed up “super quick”.
A police spokesperson said they were still trying to determine whether the Warehouse incident was related to three others that happened throughout the early morning on Saturday.
The first was an apparent ram raid at a service station on Withells Rd about 4.35am, which set off a fog cannon. It is not yet known if anything was taken.
Then at 4.40am there was an attempted burglary at a commercial premises on Main South Rd, but the offenders did not gain entry.
The Warehouse incident was reported as happening about 6am, then a burglary happened at two commercial premises on Weedons Ross Rd in West Melton about 6.50am. It is not known if anything was taken.
“Inquiries are underway to determine if these incidents are linked. Police are also making inquiries to identify and locate the offenders,” the spokesperson said.
