Audi A4 smashes into Vaughan Mills mall, drives through empty halls in shocking smash and grab
York Regional Police (YRP) are looking for help in identifying the suspects in a daring smash and grab that happened earlier this week in Vaughan.
Footage released shows a 2011 Black Audi A4 crashing through the entrance of the Vaughan Mills shopping center early Wednesday morning. Video from inside the mall captured the vehicle cruising through the empty hallways of the mall at around 1:10 am The car then smashes through another set of doors from the inside of the mall. Police say the suspects retrieved a quantity of electronic devices from an electronics store.
Officers told reporters that no one was harmed during the break and entry, but described the incident as “an audacious and remarkable crime.”
Investigators are determining how much product was stolen from inside the mall.
“Whether it’s ridiculous or it’s just brazen, it’s unacceptable too,” York Regional Police spokesperson Sgt. Clint Whitney told reporters. “People work in this mall. There’s going to be cleaners. There’s going to be security personnel. We’re just fortunate that nobody was hurt, that it’s property damage only. Nonetheless, it’s significant property damage and it’s loss of property. And we take it seriously.”
The vehicle had a Quebec license plate and a decal on the front windshield that read “Ladies on Wheels”. It was retrieved by police Wednesday afternoon, though the suspects are still at large. Police weren’t able to provide a description of the pair, as both were wearing hoods. Charges could include dangerous driving, break and enter, mischief to property and possession of stolen property.
The car’s owner, Taylor-Anna Kobinger, of Laval, Quebec, told CTV News that a man came to test drive it at the end of January, after she posted an ad on Facebook Marketplace. He took the car out twice for a test drive. The first time, nothing seemed suspicious. When he asked to drive it again, he began to drive erratically.
“He was really driving very dangerously and I didn’t feel safe, so I [asked] to change places,” Kobinger told the news outlet.
When Kobinger got out of the passenger seat, the man sped away.
I tried to run after it. I fell. I slipped because I had rain boots,” she said. And from that moment, I haven’t seen my car.
YRP contacted Kobinger to inform her that a car with her license plates was used in the incident in Vaughn, but were unable to confirm it as the owner.
Anyone with information on the suspects is being asked to contact police.