Police have two young men in custody after a series of carjackings were reported around Hamilton.
The suspects are 16 and 18 and face at least four counts of robbery. Police also say a handgun was seized.
Two of the incidents happened in Ancaster, while another two happened on the Hamilton Mountain.
Monday at around 1:30 p.m., a woman in her 70s was getting into her car at the PetSmart store in the Meadowlands. Police say a young man was in the back seat. She immediately jumped out of her car and screamed for help. Bystanders came to her aid and the suspect ran off.
That was similar to an incident last Thursday, just outside the Best Buy store in the Meadowlands, where a woman in her 80s says she was robbed at gunpoint after a teen was hiding in her back seat. Police say the man rummaged through the victim’s purse and made her withdraw cash from an ATM.
At one point, police say he forced the woman into the passenger seat and drove her around the city before eventually getting out at Rebecca Street and Mary Street.
The woman was not injured.
Police say another elderly woman was targeted in the Limeridge Mall parking lot Monday, while a younger woman reported a similar incident at West 5th and Mohawk.
Police say the four incidents may be connected, and they’re investigating a fifth.
The suspects are awaiting a bail hearing.