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London police seek suspects in ‘possible attempted abduction’

FILE PHOTO. Matthew Trevithick / Global News

London police have released suspect descriptions in connection with a possible attempted abduction of two children detailed in a now-viral Instagram post.

Police say that at roughly 7 p.m. Tuesday, a woman reported to them that she was inside of a store in the area of Wellington and Dundas streets on Friday afternoon when two men approached her vehicle, which was parked outside of the business.

The police release comes a day after a London woman shared her experience in an Instagram post that had amassed over 50,000 views as of midday Wednesday.

London police have confirmed to 980 CFPL that the Instagram video and police release concern the same alleged incident.

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In the video, Laura Ferrari says she locked her two sons, ages 6 and 2, in the vehicle while she went into a downtown bakery to pick up a cake for her older son’s birthday.

“There was a front row parking spot and it’s a very small parking lot and it was a huge glass window and the cash is very close so I locked the boys into the car and I went into the store to get the cake. I knew this would be under a five minute transaction so I was okay with it.”

According to Ferrari, a man in a trench-coat set off her car alarm.

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“Instantly I’m like, ‘what?’ and I go to go lock it again and just to confirm I’m locking it and I’m looking and he sort of keeps walking. Then another man walks up from the other direction and he pulls his car behind my car on an angle,” she said.

“So my car’s a little bit on an angle – I can see three out of the four doors, but the one I can’t see perfectly clear. So I’m hitting the lock button repeatedly just to make sure as I’m finishing up this transaction and now I’m starting to rush out the door.”

Ferrari says her purse was in the front seat, but she alleges that neither man tried to open the front doors of her vehicle.

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“They went directly to the back door,” she said.

“They tried to convince my son that they were friends with me. They said, ‘I’m friends with your mommy, open the door, open the door, open the door’ and normally my son would’ve opened the door and I don’t know why he didn’t, but he didn’t.”

Ferrari says in the Instagram video that the men fled when she came outside and that her older son was shaken by the incident.

London police have released suspect descriptions in connection with the investigation.

Both suspects are described by police as white men. The first was roughly 6-feet tall, between the ages of 40 and 50, with shoulder-length hair, wearing a brown trench-coat and black pants.

The second suspect was the one with the vehicle and is described as about 5-foot-9-inches tall, 30 to 40 years of age with a medium build and short black hair. He was clean-shaven and was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, brown pants and running shoes. Police say he had a silver sedan, possibly a Nissan Altima.

Police say the investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.

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No injuries were reported.

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