A teenage cyclist was attacked by two men wielding a machete and equipped with electric motorbikes in an attempted bikejacking in Liverpool, with the 16-year-old having to rush inside a Tesco which was filled with customers.
The attack took place in Mossley Hill, Liverpool on Sunday 15 September around 6:30pm, with officers and ambulance service being called to the store on Allerton Road shortly after.
The teenager was reportedly chased into the Tesco Express by the two men, who then attacked him with a bladed weapon. He suffered minor cut wounds to his arms and his head, in what the police have described as a “shocking incident” during daytime, in a shop that would have “busy with customers”.
Merseyside Police confirmed that no one else was injured and the attackers, described as white males, aged between 18-20, with one was wearing a grey tracksuit and he other with a black tracksuit, made it out of the store.
The police report added: “There were customers in the store at the time but nobody else was injured during the incident. An investigation is underway and CCTV, forensic and witness enquiries are being carried out.”
> Bikejackers kick "poor kid" and steal his cycle from BMX track, leaving other children traumatised
Detective Sergeant Clare Walsh said: “This was clearly a shocking incident in a shop which would have been busy with customers.
“We are currently carrying out a number of lines of enquiry to establish what has taken place in the lead up to the assault. We believe the victim was in Calderstones Park and was chased by two males, possibly on a Surron bike. The males then made off towards Garston Park.
“This type of behaviour is totally unacceptable and we will do everything within our powers to find those responsible and bring them to justice.
“If you were in the vicinity of the Tesco Express store on Allerton Road and saw or heard anything suspicious please get in touch as a matter of urgency.”
Anyone with information is asked to DM @MerpolCC on Twitter or give a call to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, quoting reference 24000795668.
Teenagers and young children have increasingly been targeted by bike robbers lately. Just last month, children riding their bikes at a BMX track in Leeds were left traumatised after a bikejacking attack in which two teenagers pushed and kicked a young cyclist off his bike, before stealing it and running away.
In May last year, an 11-year-old boy was left terrified after a masked man threatened him with a machete and robbed his bicycle in broad daylight, while he was playing in a park in Grimsby.
The victim’s grandmother said that the incident left her grandson — who has autism and ADHD — so scarred that he thinks if he leaves the house, the unknown man will be there and will find out where he lives.
And then in August, a 13-year-old boy was threatened with a machete, and told to hand over his mountain bike or “I will stab”, in a shocking bike theft in Merseyside.
> Cyclist fights off gang who threatened him with hammer during attempted bikejacking
The older boys, described as 16-year-old white males wearing tracksuits believed to be from the Monitrex brand and riding green and white electric bike themselves, then threatened the boys with a machete before stealing the 13-year-old’s mountain bike, a Specialized Status 140.
“They said ‘hello’ and a couple of minutes later they came back with one on foot,” the boys’ father, who wished to remain anonymous, said. “They had stashed the other bike which police later found. Then they went up to [the 13-year-old].”