Toronto Police Arrested A Man & Teen Who Allegedly Went On A Robbery Spree At 16 Stores

A man and a teen were arrested by Toronto police in connection to a series of retail store robberies across the GTA.

In a press release, officers revealed that on April 1 between midnight and 5 a.m, police from Halton Region, Peel Region, Toronto, and York Region responded to 16 robberies in the same night.

During these robberies, Toronto authorities said it was alleged that a teen and a man engaged in "takeover-style" robberies where they told people to get on the floor and used a mix of "verbal threats and physical violence while making demands." In their last incident, police said that they had a firearm with them.

It was alleged that they had stolen a bunch of cigarettes and cash before taking off in a car that had stolen licence plates.

Police said they then found the car near Eglinton Avenue East and Don Mills Road in Toronto, where they saw the teen and the man try to escape on foot before they were caught and arrested.

TPS' Police Dog Services helped with the arrest and also found a handgun that is believed to be connected to the incident.

"Today, the Hold Up Squad arrested two people in connection with 16 retail robberies over a period of five hours and a loaded handgun was also located by @TPSK9. A man and a boy face a combined 51 charges," Toronto Police Service's Chief of Police, James Ramer, had tweeted on the day of the arrest.

A 17-year-old teen from Toronto is facing 22 charges in total, while Niko Gokool-Clark, 23, who's from Mississauga, is facing 29 charges.

Among the charges laid on both suspects were possession of property obtained by crime, possession of a loaded restricted firearm, eight counts of disguise with intent, robbery with a firearm, seven counts of robbery, unauthorized possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm knowing it's unauthorized, and possession of a prohibited device/ammunition knowing it's unauthorized.

Gokool-Clark is also facing a charge of eight counts of fail to comply with probation, and the teen is looking at a fail to comply release order charge.