A man has been remanded in custody after being charged over an incident during which a stolen knife was allegedly used to threaten two people at a busy shopping centre in Melbourne’s north-west.

Sunshine West man Matthias Hanssens, 30, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Saturday facing two counts of unlawful assault, theft, making threats to kill and being armed with criminal intent.

Police allege he stole a knife from a supermarket at Watergardens Shopping Centre in Taylors Lakes on Friday May 3 and then confronted two people inside the centre before being allegedly tackled by bystanders.

The court was told it was Mr Hanssens’s first time in custody and there were mental health considerations.

He did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody to appear at the Sunshine Magistrates Court on May 14.

On Saturday, there was a strong police presence at Watergardens Shopping Centre, with counsellors on hand to help community members distressed by the incident.

Victorian Police Minister Anthony Carbines commended those who intervened to keep the shoppers and workers safe and said any changes to security and policing arrangements at shopping centres were a matter for Victoria Police.

“Naturally, police can’t be everywhere but it’s very important that people know that 24/7 if you need emergency police response it is available to you,” he said.

Barber Randi Azeezo said he was at the centre.

Mr Azeezo, who moved to Melbourne from Canada five months ago, said the incident began at Woolworths, which he said immediately locked its doors after the alleged theft of the knife.

“The worst part of everything is, like, I’m looking around, there’s no security guys to help, there’s no police, everybody’s holding their phones,” Mr Azeezo said.

He said he was proud of those who tackled the alleged offender and held him down until police arrived.

“All these people [who assisted] are Iraqis, we’ve seen those cases, scenarios, we always try to protect each other,” he said.