Mississauga fugitive back in Canada on murder charges after living in U.S. under alias: police
Published April 16, 2024 at 12:09 pm
A Mississauga man considered one of Canada’s most-wanted fugitives who authorities say was living in the U.S. under an alias prior to his recent arrest is back on Canadian soil to face two charges of first-degree murder.
Kensworth Alton Francis, 29, who on March 26 was arrested by United States Marshals in Hartford, Connecticut, has been returned by authorities south of the border to York Regional Police to face charges in the July 2022 murders of two security guards at a Vaughan nightclub.
Officials with the U.S. Marshals Service said in a news release issued late Monday that Francis “has been returned to Ontario to face the charges against him” after making a number of court appearances in Hartford, where he had allegedly been living under the alias “John Johnson” for a period of time prior to his arrest last month.
U.S. Marshals said members of their task force alongside marshals from Maine and Hartford SWAT officers located and arrested Francis after having received a “provisional arrest request from Canada.”
In arresting the wanted man, U.S. authorities said they also recovered:
- a short-barrel assault rifle fixed with an extended magazine
- 20 rounds of 5.56 ammunition
- one .45-calibre Glock handgun and another .45-calibre Glock handgun that had been converted with a fully automatic switch
- three extended pistol magazines
- 89 rounds of .45-calibre ammunition
More recent photo of Kensworth Alton Francis, 29, of Mississauga. (Photo: U.S. Marshals Service)
A U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson said in an earlier email to insauga.com that Francis appeared in federal court there the day of his arrest and waived extradition, meaning the process began for his return to Canada.
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In the interim, he was also charged by U.S. authorities with being a fugitive from Canada, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
A York Regional Police spokesperson told insauga.com on Tuesday that Francis was brought back to Ontario last Friday and appeared in court the following day. His next court appearance, by video remand, is scheduled for next Monday.
Francis, believed to be originally from the Bahamas, was put on Canada’s most-wanted list after the July 23, 2022 murders of Tosin Amos-Arowoshegbe, 25, and Chibueze Momah, 22, who worked as security guards at the ATL Lounge on Highway 7 West in Vaughan.
They were working at the club when they were fatally shot during an altercation at about 3:30 a.m. A third person, a 20-year-old woman who was a patron at the club, was also shot, but she survived.
Francis is charged with attempted murder in the shooting of the young woman in addition to the two murder charges.
U.S. Marshals said an argument took place just prior to the shooting.
“Following the argument, an individual produced a handgun and began shooting,” U.S. Marshals said in their news release. “When officers arrived, they found two security guards … suffering from gunshot wounds. Despite all life-saving efforts, both men were pronounced dead on scene. A woman at the lounge was also shot, but was transported to a hospital and survived.”
Last May, Canadian authorities placed Francis at No. 7 on Canada’s 25 Most Wanted list.
Compiled periodically by the BOLO Program, which takes its name from the popular police term “be on the lookout,” the list names those considered by police to be the most dangerous.
Kensworth Francis, of Mississauga, in an earlier photo. (Photo: York Regional Police)