Video captures bust of two suspects in Scarborough smash-and-grab robbery
Two 15-year-old boys face charges and a third suspect is still sought
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Two teenage boys were arrested for a smash-and-grab robbery in a takedown on a busy Scarborough street that was caught on video Tuesday afternoon.
Toronto Police say officers responded to a robbery at a business near Kennedy and Ellesmere Rds. just before 5 p.m.
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“Three suspects, travelling in a stolen vehicle, attended a store wearing masks to disguise their identities,” Insp. Joseph Matys, who heads up the Hold Up Unit, said in a statement released Wednesday.
He said two of the bandits “produced hammers while making demands to open the safe,” then “smashed several glass display cases and took a quantity of cameras before fleeing the area in the stolen vehicle.”
“Officers from 41 Division quickly responded and observed the stolen vehicle strike two vehicles in the Progress Ave. and William Kitchen Rd. area,” Matys said.
Video posted on Instagram by RTN Canada, which police confirm captured the takedown, shows a white car stopped sideways over a concrete island on William Kitchen Rd. just north of Progress Ave. – east of Kennedy Rd. – while an officer stands near the driver’s side door with gun drawn.
The passenger side door is flung open as a person in dark clothing with a hood over their head jumps out and runs off northeast just as a second officer appears on foot next to the first officer.
Another person then hops out of the suspect vehicle and attempts to run away before being taken down by the second officer
The first officer’s gun remains pointed at the driver as the vehicle peels out over the island and takes off south on William Kitchen Rd., narrowly missing several vehicles that were stopped at the traffic light at Progress Ave., where a police vehicle blocked the intersection.
The first officer is then seen on the video joining the second officer to help take the suspect into custody.
Matys confirmed two suspects were arrested and a third suspect fled the area in the stolen vehicle.
“A short time later, the stolen vehicle was recovered at a nearby location,” he said, adding officers allegedly found two hammers and “a quantity of stolen cameras” inside the vehicle.
Two 15-year-old Toronto boys faces charges that include robbery with an offensive weapon, wearing a disguise with intent, and two counts of possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.
The boys cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
No description of the third culprit who fled in the stolen vehicle has been been released.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation is urged to call the Hold Up Unit at 416-808-7350 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
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