Toronto police say three suspects shot their way out of a Scarborough shopping center after making off with thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from a jewelry store Thursday evening.
It happened at Majestic City, at Markham Road and McNicoll Avenue, shortly before 6:30 pm
Security camera footage obtained by CTV News Toronto shows a man approaching the store and asking to be let in. He waits because there is a customer already in the shop. After a few minutes, the door opens for the customer to leave, and when the other man tries to enter, a three-man approach. One suspect in black and armed with a gun pulls the new customer away.
The customer walks away, while the robbers are seen smashing the glass cases inside the store.
One man who owns a mobile phone and computer store near the back of the mall said he locked the back door when he heard the robbery and pushed a large garbage bin across to try to block the thieves from leaving.
He said they shot the glass out of the door when they couldn’t get out.
“They came in and shot the glass two, almost three times and then they broke the glass and went out,” Krash Nalliah said.
Police told CP24 that thousands of dollars in jewelry was taken from the store.
The gun shots also sent staff and customers at the mall scurrying in a panic.
“Everybody was running,” one man whose shop is around the corner from the jewelry store said. “I heard three noises that broke the glass and got out. It was like crazy. All scared, we didn’t know where to run.”
Some business owners at the mall say they are concerned the shopping center does not have adequate security.
Nobody was injured.
Please have not released any descriptions of the suspects so far.
-With files from CTV News Toronto