Man arrested over attack with swastika painted backwards on his head in Perth

A man with a backwards swastika painted on his forehead accused of a random flamethrower attack on a Perth mother and daughter has been tackled and arrested at the site of the incident.

Security footage captured the wanted man walking casually from a Gosnells shopping centre earlier this week with a deodorant can and a gas lighter in his hands and the Nazi symbol incorrectly painted above his eyes.

WA Police said he went on to use the two innocuous items as a makeshift blowtorch, throwing flames at a mother and her daughter, which he told them was because they were Indigenous.

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A 37-year-old who showed up at the same site last night was apprehended by three men after a woman claimed she recognised his face.

The arrested man was wearing a bandana emblazoned with swastikas.

A woman told 9News she had seen him and then "yelled out to a couple of guys in the carpark", who joined forces to apprehend the man.

"I just stepped in front of him and said, 'you're not going anywhere', and he just started swinging his belt around, trying to hit us and calling the n-word," one of the men said.

Police arrived minutes later and arrested the man.

Investigators say the 37-year-old doesn't appear to have ties to any white supremacist groups.

He is being held in a secure hospital facility until his next court date.