By David Fleischer

Usually there isn’t much that happens on a sleepy stretch of Centre Street, just north of the city in Thornhill. It’s a pretty typical suburban stretch between the Promenade Mall and, well, not much else. But this week it’s been hopping!
First of all, there was a good ol’ fashioned carjacking on Thursday night. Just your run-of-the-mill post-ATM visit from the local thieves. This enterprising suspect brought both a gun AND a metal stick to ensure that his financial requests were met promptly. He whacked the victim with the stick a few times, took his money, took his car, drove a few blocks and skedaddled. Nice.
The story might not even be worth mentioning if something even worse hadn’t happened in the exact same place the following night. Read this and tell me – without consulting your Hardy Boy’s handbook – if you think these two incidents might be related:
-A man with a similar description (5’7″ or 5’8″, Asian, handgun…) robs an otherwise innocent Mama’s Pizza outlet near Dufferin and Centre Street.
-While leaving the robbery, the suspect spots someone leaving an ATM and decides to take some money from him too. The guy doesn’t give up any dough despite enduring a pistol whipping.
-The suspect flees on foot and fails to carjack someone who wisely drives away. But then he finds a couple who aren’t paying as much attention and jumps in the back of their car. He waves the gun and makes them drive him a few blocks where he gets out.
In the meantime, police officers are coming in from two districts (that’s what we notherners call ‘precincts’ or ‘divisions’) alongside colleagues from the canine unit. Even the air support unit is called into service (that’s right – we have a chopper! Eat your heart out, Fantino!!).
A couple of the officers were a bit too enthusiastic and they collided with another car on Dufferin Street. One of the officers and two of the civilians sustained serious injuries in this otherwise unrelated incident. Of course the SIU is being called in to find out how that happened.
In the meantime, the suspect(s?) is still running around this otherwise-not-so-exciting neighbourhood.
York Region Police reports don’t get much more exciting than this. Feel free to call crime stoppers if you know anything…