London police investigating suspicious death near downtown park

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London police are appealing to the public for information as they investigate a suspicious early morning death at a park near the downtown core.

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Police were called to reports of an unresponsive male near the Grosvenor Street entrance of Gibbons Park shortly before 7 a.m. Sunday. Police officers and paramedics arrived at the scene and began life-saving measures.

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The unidentified male was pronounced dead a short time later, police said in a news release Sunday afternoon.

The death is considered suspicious, a police spokesperson said in an email Sunday. Investigators are unable to say whether the death is a homicide because an autopsy has not yet taken place.

Investigators cordoned off a large section of the parking lot and adjacent parkland with police tape. The trail next to the Thames River remained open for cyclists and pedestrians. The department’s forensic identification van, search and rescue vehicle and six cruisers remained at the scene Sunday afternoon.

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Six officers could be seen combing the parking lot for evidence, turning up leaves as they walked in a line with yellow flag markers and appearing to pay particular attention to the southeast corner of the entrance to the park.

Six London police officers search for evidence at the Grosvenor Street entrance to Gibbons Park on Sunday Nov. 6, 2022. An unidentified male was found unresponsive in the area Sunday morning and later pronounced dead. (Jennifer Bieman/The London Free Press) Six London police officers search for evidence at the Grosvenor Street entrance to Gibbons Park on Sunday Nov. 6, 2022. An unidentified male was found unresponsive in the area Sunday morning and later pronounced dead. (Jennifer Bieman/The London Free Press)

A neighbour with a home at the end of Grosvenor Street, directly next to the Gibbons parking lot, said he woke up to an intense police presence outside.

“I heard subdued voices overnight,” said Doug Gerber, adding hearing people in the park on weekend evenings wasn’t unusual, but the voices didn’t sound like the usual “hooting and hollering” from the late night bar crowd.

Gerber said he did not hear any gunshots or other commotion.

The name and age of the man has not been released by London police. The investigation has been reassigned to the department’s major crime section, police said.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call London police at (519) 661-5670 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

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