Hold Up Renews Appeal on Fifth Anniversary
Hold Up Staff Inspector Mike Earl issued this reminder as Toronto Police continue to seek the public’s assistance identifying a suspect linked to a series of robberies at Dupont subway station.
On Sunday February 26, 2012 at around 7.10 p.m., a Toronto Transit Commission collector was shot in the neck and shoulder after he refused to comply with a demand for cash.
Hold Up believes the same suspect is responsible for robberies at Dupont station, at 278 Dupont St., on June 11 and October 2, 2011.
In those robberies, there were no injuries as the suspect fled with a small amount of cash.
At a press conference at police headquarters on February 27, Earl said this is a very unusual case.
“This individual can only be described as committing these crimes because there were no robberies we could find like this in the entire Greater Toronto Area,” he said. “He targeted the same collector booth three times, approximately four months apart. After the shooting, he received no cash and there hasn’t been a similar robbery since.”
The suspect is described as a white man, 30-40, with a heavy build. He was dressed in dark clothing and armed with a handgun in each of the robberies.
Earl said the clues have gone dry and police are looking for any kind of information from the public that can lead to an arrest.
“The TTC has been his only target,” added Earl. “I am hoping he has spoken to somebody and told them about this or maybe someone has information years ago and was afraid to come forward. Maybe, this reminder will push them to do so now.”
TTC executive director Brad Ross said the $25,000 reward that’s on the table still stands.
“This senseless crime over what amounts to just a few dollars shook the TTC and caused us to do a few things to make our employees safer,” he said. “We have installed a greater bullet resistance-type glass to our collector booths, reduced the amount of cash that is in the system and included credit and debit capabilities in collector booths.”
To view links of the robbery please see attached previous YouTube links:
June 20, 2011, (Crime Stoppers)
February 26, 2015 (Third anniversary, Crime Stoppers)
May 29th, 2012 (Mike Earl & Andy Byford)
Anyone with information is asked to contact Hold Up at 416-808-7350, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416−222−TIPS (8477), online at 222tips.com, text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637), or Leave A Tip on Facebook.
