

Joshua Freeman, CP24.com





York Regional Police say the same suspects responsible for an armed robbery that sent panicked shoppers fleeing at Markville Mall Sunday night are believed to have left a suspicious package at a GO station to try to create a distraction.

Police were called to the mall at Highway 7 East and McCowan Road at 6:25 p.m.

According to police, six suspects arrived in two vehicles and entered the Lukfook jewelry store wearing orange construction vests and equipped with firearms and hammers.

Video captured by bystanders at the scene showed suspects smashing display windows and loading loot into bags.

In a news release Monday, police said that a suspicious package appears to have been left at the Markham GO Station as a distraction.

“Through the investigation officers have gained information to lead them to believe that the suspects were responsible for an additional incident where a suspicious package had been left at the Markham GO train station on Main Street Markham North, just prior to the robbery,” police said in the release.

Police said the incident appears to have been called in to police in an effort to distract resources away from the robbery.

Despite the distraction, officers managed to apprehend one of the robbery suspects within five minutes of responding to the call.

A man who saw the suspects fleeing outside the mall tackled one of them, slowing them down.

Police then arrested that suspect in a dramatic scene that was also captured on video by bystanders.

There were no serious injuries in either incident.

York Regional Police Chief Eric Jolliffe praised the officers for their response in the police statement Monday.

“I am very proud of the excellent police work displayed by our members during this challenging and dynamic incident," Jolliffe said. “The highly trained members of our frontline, Hold-Up and Emergency Response Units, as well as those in the Real Time Operations Centre, worked together in this well-coordinated response and will continue to do so as the investigation continues.”

Tristan Currie, of Toronto, has been charged with robbery, disguise with intent and assault with intent to resist arrest. He was scheduled to make a court appearance Monday morning.

Police say they are still looking for five other suspects in connection with the robbery.