Police seek 29-year-old London man for gunpoint home invasion, kidnapping

A 29-year-old London man is being sought by police after a residence in east London was robbed Wednesday morning and a person removed from the home at gunpoint and driven to a location on Oneida Nation of the Thames First Nation, police said Thursday.

The string of events began around 11:15 a.m. when police were made aware of a home invasion-style robbery at an address on Saul Street that saw one of the home’s residents forcibly removed from the building at gunpoint, police said.

The male suspect and male victim left the scene in a vehicle, and an officer patrolling the area located the vehicle and attempted to stop it but was unsuccessful. The officer attempted to follow the vehicle, but backed off over concerns for the safety of the vehicle’s occupants and the public, police said.

It was later determined that the suspect and victim had left the city and had travelled to a location along Walker Road on Oneida Nation of the Thames First Nation, just outside the city.

“As a result, the London police requested the assistance of the Ontario Provincial Police to attempt to locate the individuals involved,” police said in a media release.

In a media release, Middlesex OPP said they responded to a crime-against-persons call along Walker Road around 2:30 p.m.

Provincial police officers, along with London police, attended the area and blocked off a stretch of the roadway.

Details remain limited, but police said the male victim was located by officers in the afternoon and was taken to hospital for minor injuries. In their release, OPP said Walker Road re-opened around 9:30 p.m. after police cleared the scene.

The male suspect, identified as Marlon Antone, 29, remains at large and is wanted on several past charges not related to Wednesday’s incident, including assault causing bodily harm, forcible confinement, mischief under $5,000, and fail to attend court.

“London police were already looking for this individual in relation to a number of different matters,” said London police Const. Sandasha Bough, who couldn’t go into specifics.

“Due to the fact that our officers are still currently investigating this incident, we haven’t released any of the new charges yet, but we can tell you this individual is armed and dangerous,” she said.

Antone and the victim are known to each other, and the incident was not random, police said.

Police said they believe Antone may be in possession of a firearm, and residents are asked to contact authorities immediately if he is located.