TORONTO, Ont. – The Toronto Transit Commission is offering a $25,0000 reward in the hopes of catching an assailant wanted for the shooting of a ticket collector at the Dupont subway station in February.

William Anderson, 52, was shot twice — once in the neck and once in the shoulder — on Feb. 26, and suffered life-threatening injuries.

It’s the first time the TTC has ever posted such a reward.

“I think this sends a very strong message to our staff that we will support them, and to would-be assailants that we will not tolerate people attacking our staff,” TTC CEO Andy Byford said. “If this is what it takes to come forward, to jog someone’s memory or to jog someone’s conscience, then that’s fine, i think that’s money well-spent.”

At around 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 26, a suspect approached the ticket booth brandishing a handgun. As the suspect started to leave, the person turned and fired three shots towards the booth, hitting the TTC employee twice.

Byford said Anderson — who has worked with the TTC for the past 10 years as a collector — continues to recover from those injuries.

Toronto police believe the suspect is responsible for two previous robberies at Dupont station — one on June 11, 2011 at 9:26 p.m., and another on Oct. 2, 2011, at 7:55 p.m.

In both cases, the collectors were threatened by a man with gun, following which they handed over an undisclosed amount of money. He is described at white, 35 to 50 years of age with a heavy build.

In late February, Toronto police Staff Insp. Mike Earl said Dupont station “could be a comfort zone for this individual. That’s why he keeps going back to the same location. That’s something that hopefully the public can give us a hand in identifying and solving.”

Staff inspector Mike Earl with the hold-up squad fears the suspect will strike again soon.

Earl also said given the information received so far, he can’t be certain if the suspect is a man or woman.

“I can’t tell by the pictures myself, so we want to be gender non-specific,” he explained.

The person has a stalky build and holds a revolver in the left hand.

At the time, TTC director of communications Brad Ross said they continued to review footage from security cameras, while transit union boss Bob Kinnear said there is a concerted effort by the union and TTC management to improve the safety of employees and passengers.

As for suggestions by Councillor Doug Ford to remove collectors from the system, Kinnear said the collector plays an important role and reports whatever occurs in the station to the authorities.

Byford said the situation is outrageous, and that people should not have to worry about being shot or assaulted when they go to work. Currently, two or three TTC employees are assaulted every day, with levels of assault ranging from verbal to physical.

As a result, he said the TTC is reconsidering security protocols — including whether it should install bullet-proof glass in the collector booths. The current glass is strengthened but is not bullet-proof.

However, he plans to be careful when assessing other solutions.

“It’s important that we don’t knee-jerk into finding solutions that are unsustainable or inadvertently increase the risk,” he explained.

There are measures already in place to reduce the risk to collectors.

“One of those was to reduce the amount of cash held in booths,” Byford said. “We’ve installed CCTV cameras, we’ve installed alarms into each of the booths. It’s a number of measures we’ve already taken. Clearly the events of last night we need to reconsider that.”

“I’m deeply saddened to learn what occurred at the Dupont subway station earlier this evening,” Mayor Rob Ford said in a statement. “I would like to extend my thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of the TTC collector during this most difficult time.”

Police patrols have been stepped up system wide ever since the February attack.