Police have arrested a 15-year-old boy following a spree of carjackings in the Greater Toronto Area, police say.
Toronto police said on Aug. 19, officers received a report of a person with a gun in the Meadowvale Road and Sheppard Avenue East area.
Police said a 35-year-old man was sitting in his vehicle in a parking lot when three suspects asked him if he had any booster cables that they could borrow.
Officers said the victim did not have the cables but offered to drive the suspects to a nearby location. According to police, they got into his vehicle.
That is when one of the suspects allegedly produced a handgun and demanded the keys from the victim. “The man got out of his vehicle and fled the area with his vehicle keys,” a news release read.
Police said the three suspects then fled the area on foot.
According to police, a short time later, officers received a report of a robbery at a “nearby location.”
Officers said a 27-year-old man stopped his vehicle in a parking lot and a woman got into the front seat for a pre-arranged meeting. Police said the man drove the woman to a nearby location where two men got into the back of the vehicle.
Officers said one of the men allegedly produced a handgun and demanded the keys.
“The victim complied, turned over his keys and got out of the vehicle,” police said in a news release.
Officers said the three suspects fled the area in the stolen vehicle.
Several hours before the two carjackings, police responded to a similar call in York Region, Toronto police said.
It is alleged that someone was sitting in their parked car when two male suspects approached the vehicle, one pointed a handgun and demanded the vehicle’s keys.
Police said the victim got out of their car and the two male suspects drove away.
Toronto police said they have been able to identify and arrest a male suspect on Thursday, Sept. 15.
After finding clothing worn during the robberies during the execution of a search warrant, police said they arrested a 15-year-old from Toronto.
He was charged with three counts of robbery with a firearm, three counts of disguise with intent, three counts of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and nine counts of failure to comply with a release order.
Two suspects — a 20-year-old woman standing at five feet, six inches tall with dark brown braided hair and a 20-year-old man — are still outstanding, police said.
— with files from Global News’ Hannah Jackson