UTSC student says he’s been carjacked three times
Man claims he was shot at and kidnapped at gunpoint. It’s part of a troubling Toronto trend
Whenever he closes his eyes, he can still hear the gunshots.
Qichun Wang, a 23-year-old University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) student, says he was held at gunpoint for more than an hour and shot at during an attempted carjacking on campus Wednesday afternoon — an attack that has left him scared of returning to school and contemplating moving back to Shanghai, where he is from.
He says he has now been a carjacking victim three times — once successfully, at a gas station, when he came out of the station and his car was gone.
The most recent reported attack and kidnapping is under investigation by Toronto police, according to spokesperson Cindy Chung, and is part of a troubling trend in Toronto of increasingly violent carjackings that continue to plague this city more now than they ever have since data became available in 2014.
Wang, a permanent resident of Canada who moved from China six years ago — told the Star in an interview interpreted by a close friend that he was approached in parking lot A on campus by a man dressed in a safety vest, with his face covered by a medical mask and sunglasses.
The man asked to buy Wang’s new Louis Vuitton bag, he said — then pulled a gun on him and forced him into the driver’s seat of his 2022 BMW X3, which Wang has owned for two years.
Wang said the suspect entered the car and sat behind him, holding the gun to his ribs, then his leg. Wang drove to a quieter parking lot on campus, where the suspect forced Wang to the passenger seat and took over driving.
Thus began more than an hour of driving, according to Wang, during which the suspect unsuccessfully searched Wang for his phone — hidden in a jacket pocket — and threatened he would kill Wang if he called the police.
Then, in an Oakridge neighbourhood not far from Danforth and Warden avenues, the suspect pulled the gun on Wang again, he said. Worried this time he would be shot — “when you see someone pull out a gun, you want to run,” Wang said through his friend, who asked to not be identified — Wang said he opened the door on the slow-moving car.
That’s when Wang says the suspect shot — but didn’t hit him. Wang fell out of the car and into the road in the quiet subdivision.
He said his car — suspect inside — sped away and Wang called police. Toronto police confirmed to the Star they received a call for a shooting and carjacking incident at approximately 1:29 p.m. on Wednesday and the victim did not sustain any injuries.
The BMW was later recovered by Toronto police and is currently in their possession as they investigate, Wang said. But the suspect made off with two Louis Vuitton bags, two golf bags, a necklace, rings and a watch that was even more expensive than the car — estimated by Wang to be worth between $150,000 and $200,000.
The violent reported attack is only one of many such incidents increasingly plaguing the Greater Toronto Area.
Carjackings have more than doubled in 2024, while province-wide, violent carjackings and home invasions grew by 206 per cent between 2021 and 2023.
Of the 417 carjacking incidents in the GTA in 2023, 125 involved firearms, Ontario Provincial Police have said. “They’ve graduated,” Toronto police Inspector Joseph Matys said last week.
Just this week, York police charged a 17-year-old boy with stealing a car in Richmond Hill while armed with at least one firearm. Police said last year the majority of those arrested for carjacking in Toronto are minors — a new, alarming trend that began to emerge in 2023.
Wang estimated his attacker was about 30 to 40 years old.
The carjacking crisis, which has also enveloped food delivery drivers, is leading Torontonians to take matters into their own hands, sometimes installing high-end security systems or retractable metal posts around their driveway.
Toronto police have struggled to quell the crisis, at one point this year telling homeowners to leave their car keys by the front door so they’re easier for thieves to find. Police later backtracked on the advice, given by one officer, which they called “well meaning” but offered alternatives, such as adding home security systems, multi-point door locks and security film over windows.
In a statement to the Star, a University of Toronto spokesperson said the “campus safety team is supporting (Toronto police) in their investigation.” The spokesperson said staff monitor all campus parking lots around the clock by patrols and security cameras.
Wang, a fourth-year student, said this is not what he expected Canada to be when he came here six years ago.
Wang is contemplating moving back to Shanghai, and feels “disappointed” by the country he is now a permanent resident of, he said through his friend.
“Every time he closes his eyes right now, he hears gunshots,” the friend interpreted. “He’s kind of scared coming to campus again.”
Wang said he knows the chances of such an incident happening again are low, but is terrified that it will — and he won’t be as lucky next time.