Video shows victim fight off armed carjacking attempt in Toronto

A video captured in Etobicoke offers a window into the moments leading up to what is just the latest in a string of carjackings that have swept Toronto since early 2022.

The doorbell home security camera clip captured on September 14 just before 7 p.m. shows two masked men in hoodies — one of whom appears to be holding a handgun — grabbing at a man in a baseball cap as he pushes them off and enters his home. The assailants can then be seen fleeing into a white SUV.

Last night a women was car jacked. At Finch and Islington.

This wild video shows moments before the same group of thugs trying to car jack this man

🎥@papiet pic.twitter.com/2bRZkvZl48 https://t.co/fgoKLubGM2

— Kyle.Taylor *community noter* (@livingbyyyz) September 15, 2023

Approximately five minutes after that scuffle was recorded, police responded to a report of a carjacking just blocks away from the home in the area of Finch Avenue West and Islington Avenue.

Police report that a woman was robbed of her car at gunpoint and that there were no reported injuries. The investigation is still ongoing.

The Toronto Police's data on Major Crime Indicators shows that there have already been close to 8,500 auto thefts in Toronto in 2023. This marks an over 37 per cent increase in auto thefts over the same period (Jan-Aug) in 2022, when just shy of 6,200 auto thefts were logged.

At the current rate, Toronto is well on track to shatter the ten-year high in auto thefts recorded in 2022, when more than 9,700 cars were stolen from city streets, driveways, and garages.