Police are searching for a man they believe committed a series of armed robberies in the city’s east end while wearing a medical mask.
The first of three robberies occurred on Feb. 7 at around 11 p.m. at Midland subway station on Midland Avenue.
Police say a man wearing a medical mask approached a TTC collector, pointed a black handgun and racked it three times before demanding the collector hand over cash.
Once the victim complied, the man fled the station.
In the second instance, police believe the same man held up a bank near Old Kingston Road and Military Trail on Dec. 10.
It’s alleged the man was wearing a similar medical mask, a yellow construction helmet and a construction vest when he approached the counter and pointed a handgun at the teller.
The man made a demand for cash and fled the bank in an older-model black Toyota Corolla after he obtained it.
Investigators allege the same man robbed a beer store near Morningside Avenue and Sheppard Avenue East and one near Lawrence Avenue East and Port Union Road on Nov. 27 and Dec. 6, respectively.
The man allegedly fled on a bicycle in the first beer store robbery and used a getaway vehicle in the second.
More recently, sometime in August of 2016, police say the man walked into two retail shops on Sheppard Avenue East and propped the storefront door open with a stick.
In both cases, police allege the man pointed a handgun at employees and demanded they give him money, cigarettes and lottery tickets.
He fled both stores on foot.
The suspect is described as a brown man in his mid-20s who is approximately five-foot-six to five-foot-eight with long hair, possibly styled in dreadlocks, cornrows or an afro.
Investigators with Toronto Police have released several images taken from security camera footage of a suspect.
Anyone with new information is being asked to call police or Crime Stoppers.
