- Terrified students contacted parents amid machete fears
- Police later denied the offenders had been armed with machetes
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Students at a Melbourne private school have been put into lockdown amid fears of an alleged intruder armed with a machete.
Thomas Carr College, in Tarneit west of Melbourne, placed children into lockdown as they arrived at the school on Friday.
One mother told Daily Mail her terrified daughter had texted her from a classroom advising her she was in lockdown.
‘She said they were told someone was roaming the streets outside with a machete,’ the mother said.
A Victoria Police spokesman told the Daily Mail that police had received no information about a machete being involved in the incident.
‘A school on Fairview Parade in Tarneit temporarily placed itself into lockdown as a precaution,’ he said.
Police arrested three teenagers following an aggravated burglary in the area, which is believed to have triggered the lockdown.
Officers responded to reports of three suspicious males on Tenterfield Place at 7.20am.
Thomas Carr College was placed into lockdown on Friday
The trio allegedly entered a property, with one climbing through a bathroom window to get inside the residence.
The woman inside confronted the teens, who then fled on foot.
She was not physically injured.
Officers arrested a 17-year-old boy from the Wyndham area and a 19-year-old man from Tarneit near the intersection of Sunset Views Boulevard and Equinox Close.
The 17-year-old was treated by paramedics after being tasered during his arrest.
Police tracked a third male, 15, from the Hobsons Bay area, in a rideshare vehicle to Fifth Avenue in Altona North, where he was also arrested.
All three were expected to be interviewed on Friday.
It is not known what, if anything, was stolen from the Tenterfield Place residence.
Thomas Carr College students were told an offender was armed with a machete
The investigation is ongoing.
The incident is among a series of school lockdowns across Melbourne in recent years linked to criminal activity nearby.
Children aged between 10 and 17 were recorded as offenders in 25,275 incidents in Victoria last year – the highest on record, according to the Crime Statistics Agency.
Anyone with information on the incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
