Toronto police believe the same suspects, including two 14-year-old boys and a 15-year-old, are responsible for two recent retail store robberies.
All four were arrested on Monday after officers responded to calls for a robbery in the Keele Street and Wilson Avenue area at around 4:40 p.m.
It’s alleged multiple suspects robbed a store and fled at high speed in a blue car which was later involved in vehicle collision that resulted in injuries to an occupant in the other vehicle
The suspects then fled on foot and were arrested by responding officers.
Police now believe the same suspects were responsible for an earlier robbery on Sunday night at a store in Vaughan.
In that instance, York Regional Police (YRP) investigators said four suspects armed with hammers and wearing ski masks forced their way into a business in the Weston and Rutherford roads area at around 1:40 p.m. on January 5.
Once inside, police say the suspects forced employees to open a safe.
They fled the store, allegedly with a quantity of cellphones, and raced away in two getaway cars — a black sedan and blue hatchback.
Nathan Palmer, 20, of Toronto, and three teens who can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, are all facing a variety of weapons and robbery charges connected to the two robberies.
Police say two of the accused are 14, and one is 15.
Late last month CityNews spoke to a criminal defence lawyer who said youths are increasingly being hired by organized crime to commit smash-and-grab style robberies.
“This is a phenomenon that really relates to organized crime that is geared towards recruiting and inducting disaffected largely young males into committing sort of mob organized smash and grabs,” said criminal defence lawyer Adam Boni.
With files from Meredith Bond and Lucas Casaletto
