Ontario Provincial Police said Monday they have charged a man who allegedly made a threat that sent a Toronto hospital into lockdown, in addition to stealing two vehicles while attempting to evade arrest.
Around 5:20 p.m. Sunday, OPP say their Mississauga detachment took a call from a ride-share driver who reported a passenger had “uttered a threat toward another person.”
Officers found the vehicle on the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) in Mississauga and pulled it over. When the driver got out to speak with police, the passenger allegedly got behind the wheel and sped away, the OPP said in a news release Monday.
The initial threat was considered credible and a hospital in Toronto went into lockdown “for a short period of time” as a result, the OPP said.
Around 6 p.m., the OPP learned the ride-share vehicle had been involved in a crash on Cawthra Road south of the QEW, and that the suspect had stolen another vehicle from the scene, seriously injuring the owner in the process, the release said.
Toronto police managed to locate the second stolen vehicle a few minutes later, according to the OPP. The suspect was arrested during a “struggle,” the release said, during which he attempted to take an officer’s gun.
A 22-year-old man from Denfield, Ont., north of London, faces nine offences including uttering threats, theft of a motor vehicle, flight from a peace officer, two counts of resisting a peace officer and a charge called “robbery with violence.”
He was scheduled to appear in court in Brampton on Monday.