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The victim of an alleged attack in a Mount Maunganui mall was seen lying on the ground holding her stomach with “lots of blood around her” as onlookers rushed to help.��

A 16-year-old girl was taken into custody shortly��after the incident at Countdown supermarket inside Bayfair Shopping Centre yesterday afternoon.����

Police say she has now been��charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm��and is due to appear in Tauranga District Court next week.��

Witnesses believe the victim was stabbed, with one onlooker saying they saw two teenagers running away from the Countdown.��

The victim was taken to hospital in a serious condition and is now stable, police said today,��

A worker at a hair salon told ��һ�ǿ����� of the moments after the incident as customers left Countdown and spilled into the mall.��

“We were locked in the salon – I work there – my client came in saying she heard someone drop behind her in the supermarket and thought someone had fallen over,” the worker told ��һ�ǿ����� today.��

“She says she turned to look and saw, about a metre away from her, a girl on the ground clutching her stomach with lots of blood around her.”��

The customer said bystanders helped the victim, while the woman left the supermarket with all the other customers.��

Afterwards, supermarket staff used trolleys to barricade the store entrance, while a group of girls could be seen sitting on a couch crying, the worker said.��

A second store owner said they saw two teenage girls run out of Countdown heading towards Bayfair’s food court and Dine area.��

“They were aged about 15 or 16, two teenage girls, they were wearing skirts, maybe a school uniform, with jumpers.��

“It was very fast. We just thought it was someone after school running off to catch a bus or something,” they said.��

“Then we saw everyone gathering at Countdown. We thought something was going wrong.��

“Then ambulance and cops came in with guns. The police started clearing Countdown out. We saw someone in Countdown on the floor with blood. You could see blood.��

“Everything happened so fast.”��

Aman Singh, manager of The Coffee Club Bayfair, said police and ambulance staff were quick to get to the scene.��

“We were busy working, it was very casual with people relaxed. Then at about 4.30pm we heard one girl screaming and a second girl was running past,” he told ��һ�ǿ�����.��

Countdown staff called authorities, he said, and ambulance and police came within five minutes.��

Security increased at Bayfair��

Bayfair Shopping Centre manager Steve Ellingford called yesterday’s events “an isolated incident”.��

The centre had, however, taken additional measures to increase safety.��

“We have put on additional security over the next two days,” Ellingford said.��

“We continue to assist police with their investigation.”��

A spokeswoman for the centre said it is open today “and all retailers have resumed normal operations”.��

Community calls for greater police presence��

Michael O’Neill, president of the Mount Maunganui Ratepayers, Residents and Retailers Association, said the first response to the alleged attack needed to be a police one.��

“So far there have been a few issues around Arataki and in particular with youth,” he said��

“Obviously, there’s always concern with any form of violence, which seems to be on the increase.”��

He believed rising crime is a nationwide problem and wants to see a broader approach to tackling it that takes into account how young people use social media and what they see on it.��

Armed police officers were called to Bayfair Shopping Centre in Mount Maunganui after an alleged attack.��

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‘Unacceptable’ - Prime Minister Christopher Luxon��

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon this morning expressed sympathy with the victim of the alleged attack.��

”Our thoughts go out to the people...that’s just unacceptable.”��

He said he believed his Government had done incredibly well in starting its term by progressing a law and order agenda.��

Luxon conceded his team needed to make sure they lowered the crime rate across the country.��

”I’m frustrated about it, I know the public is frustrated about it,” he said of violent crime.��

“We’ve been working incredibly hard to get the legislative system changes in place and support, we need to give the police more tools to be able to deal with it.”��

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Police swarmed Bayfair Shopping Centre last night responding to the incident.��

by Rosalie Liddle Crawford of SunMedia��

Additional reporting: Ben Leahy��

This article was originally published on the NZ Herald .