A Toronto man is facing 30 charges after a daylight robbery that led to a police shootout and carjacking in Vaughan.

Quincy Cave, 30, has been charged with armed robbery, discharging a firearm, forcible confinement, armed kidnapping, possession of a controlled substance and a slew of other charges stemming from the incident on Monday.

The charges were announced by York Regional Police Chief Armand LaBarge during a press conference on Tuesday morning.

The accused appeared in a New Market court on Tuesday for a bail hearing.

The armed suspect allegedly held up a jewelry store at the Promenade Mall near Bathurst and Centre Streets at around 1:30 p.m.

Unarmed security guards confronted the man at the jewelry store, but were told to back off or the situation would escalate.

Rob Vanspall was one of the security guards who pursued Cave and later had the gun turned on him.

"What was going through my mind was this is it," Vanspall told CTV News on Tuesday.

The suspect allegedly fled the scene with $300,000 worth of jewelry as security guards pursued him on foot.

Leo Baeck Day School in Thornhill, only a block away from the shopping centre, was locked down at around after the suspect began firing at authorities in the schoolyard where some elementary students were having gym class.

"He took a gun out of his pocket and threatened to kill my teacher," one student at the school told CTV News.

"I was lying on the ground, curled up in a ball; I was so nervous," said another student.

The suspect eluded police at the school and ran into a nearby home on Rodeo Drive where he allegedly forced two women into their van.

Police fired at the van while the suspect sped away with the two hostages in the rear of the vehicle.

Police seized a pellet gun that was powered by an air cartridge from the van after they apprehended the suspect when he lost control of the vehicle on Keele Street just south of Highway 7.

"It had the appearance of a real gun, a firearm that the officers in this particular case wouldn't be able to discern from a semi-automatic handgun," LaBarge said during the press conference.

There were no major injuries reported, however, the two women in the van were taken to hospital to be examined.

A family spokesperson said the two women are recovering from the trauma but are not ready to speak to the media.

"They are fine. Shook up but they are really all fine," the spokesperson told CTV News.

The accused was also taken to hospital for minor injuries he received from the collision and was released back into police custody.

The bag of jewelry was recovered at the school and handed over to authorities.

Parents of children at the school expressed their gratitude to staff for their quick action and professionalism during the incident.

"To be faced with such an unexpected crisis and to keep your cool, apparently the gym teacher's reaction was to shield the children, which takes a very special kind of person," parent Rhonda Levy told CTV News from outside Leo Baeck School on Tuesday.

"I think he was very brave and I think he did the right thing. He handled it and was just worried about his children, which obviously comes first and yeah, I think he was a hero," parent Michelle Fisch said of the gym teacher who declined an interview.

The director of the school said two security audits have been conducted in the past year and safety will remain a priority for staff and students.

"Yesterday, it worked. Everything that we should have done, that we needed to do, was done. The lockdown happened instantly, the children in the classrooms we knew were safe," school director David Prashker told CTV News.

Counsellors met with students on Tuesday to discuss the incident.

With reports from CTV's Austin Delaney and Mairianna Bachynsky