Violent family disputes in Wadeye have spilled over into the Darwin CBD after 10 people – some of whom were armed with knives – terrified shoppers at the Woolworths on Cavenagh St Tuesday afternoon, NT Police said.

A video posted to Facebook by a shopper shows a man jumping over the counter of a café and arming himself with multiple knives, then approaching others at around 4:30pm.

The scuffle spilled into the self-serve area of the Woolworths and then throughout the store. The bottleshop and pharmacy closed their security doors while the violence played out.

One witness told local radio she thought she was “going to die”. Others called the situation “terrifying”, with people attempting to take shelter and hide from the mayhem.

Some bystanders said they weren’t sure police had even attended, while others said only two officers arrived at the scene.

Superintendent James O’Brien told Mix 104.9 he was not immediately aware of how many officers had attended the scene, but said the mayhem was connected to ongoing Wadeye violence between different family groups and that government agencies were working together to see if the groups could be returned to country.

“The information or the intelligence that I have is that it’s possibly linked to an incident that happened [at the Darwin Show over the weekend] where there was apparently an altercation between a group of people and that has led over to this Woolworths incident,” he said. “So those aspects we’re still trying to investigate and determine fully.”

Police said surprisingly no injuries were reported and one 16-year-old was arrested at the scene who is expected to be charged with going armed in public, engaging in violent conduct, breach of bail and possessing a non-traffickable quantity of a schedule 2 drug.

Investigations are continuing.

“This appears to have been an escalation of a dispute between family groups. We are speaking with witnesses and are aware of a video of the incident posted to social media.

“If anyone has video or witnessed the incident, please contact police on 131 444 and quote reference 10070979.”