Police were called to two apparent smash-and-grab retail store robberies within minutes of each other on Monday night in Toronto.
Toronto Police said in a post to social-media site X that officers responded at 8:43 p.m. to reports of a robbery at a jewelry store at Fairview Mall in the Sheppard Ave.-Hwy. 404 area.
Police said four suspects used hammers and fled on foot with merchandise.
In an update on social media, cops said one suspect was in custody and there was a heavy police presence in the area.
There were no reported injuries in the Fairview Mall incident.
Toronto cops responded to another robbery at 8:47 p.m. this one also in North York — at a retail store in the Eglinton Ave. W-Venn Cres. area.
Cops said in that incident three suspects were seen with hammers and the suspects fled in a vehicle. All were wearing black masks and hoodies.
There were likewise no reported injuries in the second incident.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the thieves left the store with merchandise in the second incident.
These smash-and-grab robberies have become commonplace throughout the Greater Toronto Area and beyond over the past month.
Two weeks ago, Toronto Police said six males used hammers to break the glass display cabinets at a jewelry store inside Fairview Mall — the same mall hit again on Monday night — just after 1 p.m.
The suspects fled to a waiting vehicle, which was involved in a collision as it exited the mall’s property, cops said. They then got into another getaway vehicle.
According to police, all suspects were wearing masks and gloves to disguise their identity and the investigation is ongoing.
In York Region, police earlier this month initiated a traumatic incident response team following daytime jewelry store robberies in Richmond Hill and Markham.
On Dec. 2, thieves smashed display cases at a Peoples Jewellers inside Hillcrest Mall in the middle of the afternoon.
Two days later, Lukfook Jewellery at Markville Shopping Centre in Markham was targeted as a large group of thieves smashed the store’s glass walls after the doors were locked.
Similarly, a smash-and-grab-style robbery happened outside of the GTA in Waterloo, where earlier this month assailants busted into Raffi Jewellers in Conestoga Mall. Police said they believe that the robbery was connected to another jewelry store heist in Cambridge two days earlier.
-with files from Toronto Sun staff
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