The suspect last struck at a TD Canada Trust branch in the York area of Toronto, the Sun newspaper reported. That was Friday evening. He’s suspected of committing three other bank robberies, all of them successful. Police have not disclosed how much cash he’s collected, but they want him off the street right now.
“This guy has now robbed four banks in just over two weeks, so we need to get him off the street,” Toronto police official Mik Earl said, adding that because the suspect is armed, lives could be in danger. Not just that. He’s working faster.
The last two bank robberies happened within 28 hours of each other. The bandit alledly robbed a bank in the beach destination of Cobourg just east of Toronto Thursday. Another bank was hit Feb. 19 and yet another Feb. 11.
In all four cases, the suspect has walked into the bank, handed a teller a note saying he was armed and demanding cash, and left on foot. He is described as white, in his 40s, thin, and about about 5-foot-8-inches tall.
Canada’s largest city has seen a spike in armed bank and store robberies this year, police say. So far in 2016, bank robberies are up 20 percent compared to this time last year and robberies of stores have risen 31 percent CTV News reported.
But law enforcement officials are also making progress on previous bank robbery cases. On Saturday, Jeffrey James Shuman, who police believe is Canada’s most prolific bank robber, was flown back to Canada from Europe to face charges for an alleged 21 heists. This crimes, police say, netted him at least $500,000. Shuman had been arrested in Geneva.
