Four teenagers have been charged after allegedly arming themselves with dangerous weapons and seriously injuring several people during a brawl at a birthday party in Perth.
Police were called to the out-of-control gathering at the Leederville Town Hall on Cambridge Street on Friday night after receiving reports of about 20 people fighting.
More than 200 people were leaving the venue as officers arrived.
Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Simon Bowen said six search warrants had been executed across the city in the wake of the brawl, resulting in four teenagers being charged.
An 18-year-old man from Leederville, an 18-year-old man from Osborne Park, a 17-year-old boy from Banksia Grove and a 15-year-old boy from Mount Hawthorn have each been charged with three counts of intent to do grievous bodily harm unlawfully wounds another.
"They were aware the party was on but whether they were invited or not, we don't have the information to support that."
He said the search warrants uncovered "a number of different weapons, including edged weapons, hammers, machetes [and] knives".
"Whether we have the weapons that inflicted those injuries — we will need to do some further investigating on that such as forensic testing, things like that," he said.
Five teenagers injured in attacks
Senior Sergeant Bowen said the level of violence and possession of dangerous weapons by young teenagers held "very high concern".
"People at this party were there to celebrate a friend or relative or family member and go about a good time correctly, and [were] at risk of what we saw to be a number of serious injuries," he said.
"It holds particular concern with the police, and thus why we allocate significant resources at solving these sorts of crimes swiftly and bringing those to account in front of the courts as quickly as we can."
At least five teenagers were seriously injured in the brawl, including:
- A 16-year-old male struck across the nose and cheeks with what was believed to be a machete;
- A 16-year-old male struck on the hand with a bladed weapon and on the arm with a bat;
- A 16-year-old female struck across the arm (blunt force injury by an unknown weapon);
- A 15-year-old male struck across the head with an unknown weapon, causing a laceration;
- An 18-year-old man who was struck with various weapons and had his head stomped on.
Mr Bowen said all the victims were at home recovering with loved ones but were understood to be "traumatised" by the event.
He said police were confident they had apprehended the main alleged offenders, but encouraged anyone else who believed they were a victim or had any information to come forward.
"I'll use this opportunity to remind the people of Western Australia that violent behaviour, particularly in entertainment precincts within the Perth district, will not be tolerated," he said.
"WA Police, particularly Perth police and Perth detectives, will use all available resources to us to identify those and hold them to account for their behaviour and put them before the courts."
The four accused are due to face Perth Magistrates Court and Perth Children's Court.
