Police have arrested a 19-year old male following a series of robberies and home invasions, including one in which the suspects allegedly dragged a victim to their bedroom and forcibly took their car keys.
A total of eight incidents took place between Sept. 11 and Oct. 2, resulting in $1.3 million in damages and stolen property, police say.
The authorities say that in each of the incidents two suspects attended homes with their faces concealed and threw a brick through either the front door or a front window in order to gain entry.
In six of the incidents the suspects were able to obtain keys to vehicles parked in the driveway and flee the scene in those vehicles before coming into contact with the homeowners, police say.
In the other two incidents the homeowners were confronted.
One of those incidents took place at a home near Bayview and Eglinton avenues in the early morning hours of Sept. 11 and involved the suspects allegedly dragging a victim to their bedroom before taking their car keys.
Another violent incident took place at a home near Lawrence Avenue and Yonge Street just three days later.
In that incident, police say that the suspects broke into the home shortly after 1 a.m. and confronted the homeowners with a knife while making a demand for their car keys.
Police say that the victims complied and the suspects fled the area in two vehicles that were parked outside.
News of the case comes just weeks after several residents in the Yonge Street and Lawrence Avenue spoke with CP24.com about an alarming increasing in brazen auto thefts, in which the suspects broke into homes in search of car keys while residents slept inside.
It is not clear if the arrest announced on Friday is connected to any of those incident.
Toronto resident Naz Tokhi was taken into custody earlier this week and is charged with 31 offences, including nine counts of motor vehicle theft and one count of robbery with an offensive weapon.
The second suspect in the case remains outstanding.
Police continue to investigate.
