Police investigating armed highway robbery after Brampton crash

Ontario Provincial Police investigators are searching for a number of suspects after an armed robbery that happened after a man was rear-ended on a highway in Brampton Tuesday evening.

The incident took place around 8 p.m., police said in a news release, in the northbound lanes of Highway 410. The victim — a 20-year-old man from the Brampton area — was just north of Bovaird Drive when his vehicle was struck from behind by another driver, police say.

"The driver did what he's supposed to do and he pulled over onto the right shoulder," Sgt. Ted Dongelmans told CBC News in an interview.

"Once he was stopped on the shoulder, he was confronted by two or three assailants who brandished weapons and proceeded to rob him of some of his personal items."

Dongelmans said the suspects had their faces covered, and one was armed with a gun and another a knife.

The suspects then got back into their vehicle and took off, police say. The victim sustained minor injuries.

While carjackings have been on the rise in southern Ontario in recent years, a highway robbery is less common, Dongelmans said.

"This is not a typical incident. It's not something that we hear about every day," he said, adding that police can't yet say if it was targeted or random.

Anyone with information or dashcam footage from the area at the time is being asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.