Video shows arrest of 4 suspects in Richmond Hill jewelry store robbery

A police helicopter helped track jewelry store robbers from Richmond Hill to Toronto, leading to the arrest of two men and two teenagers.

Video released by York Regional Police (YRP) on Wednesday shows the moment when four suspects get out of a vehicle in the parking lot of an apartment near Highway 27 and Finch Avenue.

They are then seen running towards a nearby wooded area.

“They are walking, sorta jogging with bags in their hands. And they know we’re here,” an officer is heard saying on the radio.

Shortly after, the four emerged from the trees, just on the south side of the apartment building, then subsequently ran back into the woods to get away from attending officers.

One by one, police, with the help of the canine unit, are seen rounding up and arresting all the suspects.

Hours earlier, the suspects allegedly used hammers to smash glass cases in a jewelry store located at a strip mall near Yonge Street and Levendale Road and took an unknown quantity of jewelry.

Police said an employee was assaulted during the incident and suffered minor injuries.

The suspects fled in a silver SUV, which was tracked down by YRP’s Air2 helicopter and later determined to have been stolen.

On Wednesday, investigators identified the two adult suspects as 24-year-old Marlando Mitchell from Brampton and 20-year-old Che Brooks Baptiste from Burlington. They are facing a total of nine charges.

The other two suspects, a 16-year-old Toronto boy and a 16-year-old Mississauga boy, cannot be named under the terms of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Both have been charged with 12 offences.

Police said Mitchell and the two teenagers were out on a combined 10 release orders at the time of the robbery. One teen was also on probation, they added.

“Our bail system needs to address such offenders as they remain one of the greatest threats to public safety,” YRP Chief Jim MacSween said in a statement.

YRP launched its “Traumatic Incident Response Protocol” this week in the wake of recent smash-and-grab robberies in the region.

“We have officers that are at the malls working with our partners again to reach out to the community, to talk to them about all the crime prevention techniques that are available as well to allow the community to talk about their concerns, to see what we can do to try and improve this,” Const. James Dickson told CP24 on Tuesday.

He noted that there has been a rise in jewelry store robberies in York Region this year, with police responding to at least 13 incidents so far, up from the seven reported incidents last year.