"Babe, run!"

Marquel Willie said that a simple warning from longtime girlfriend Annie Francisci Monday night, as she was being held captive by three armed thugs, saved his life.

"I know she saved my life. She saved all our lives," he said.

"This is worse than a nightmare. It's a replay of an incident that doesn't even feel real but it is as real as it gets. The blood on my floor. You can still see blood on my door. It's as real as it gets."

Willie, 21, told The Spectator Thursday that he left his third-floor Aberdeen Avenue apartment Monday night to buy some cigars to smoke marijuana with.

He left a male friend in his apartment along with his sleeping girlfriend.

When he returned, he met the second-floor tenant, who was planning to enter his apartment with him.

They opened the apartment door, saw Francisci and a stranger in the kitchen.

The perpetrator brandished a long rifle, which had an attachment on the barrel, and aimed it at Willie and his fellow tenant.

"I opened my door. And my girlfriend goes, 'Babe, run!' I didn't take it in. So I look. I look at her and there is a guy right beside her. A guy holding a gun. It was long with a silencer."

"I just turned my body like a cat and starting running downstairs like there was no tomorrow. As I was running down the stairs, I heard something go off. I just started running. I got to the front of my house, I stopped for a second. I got in between some houses and I called 911."

Moments later, Francisci was shot in the abdomen. The 21-year-old baker remains in hospital. Police are hunting for three black males in dark clothing as part of a home invasion they say is drug-related.

"They (the perpetrators) wanted lots of money and lots of drugs," Willie said of the demands the trio made in the apartment. He said he had just a half ounce of marijuana in his apartment for personal use. He said one intruder had what looked like a pistol, as well.

Willie said he and Francisci have lived together at the apartment for three years. His grandmother, who raised him, owns the triplex, located just west of Queen Street South. The pair will be together for four years in April. "I want to marry her," Willie said.

Willie insists he smokes pot recreationally. But he doesn't sell. He said Francisci is a loving girlfriend and hard-working baker who is an innocent bystander.

"She is as innocent as it comes. She was in bed sleeping and these guys came into my house. Someone must have given them a tip, saying 'In this place, this place, this place, they must have everything you can imagine.' That's the only explanation I can think of."

Willie said he isn't concerned about the trio returning.

"Why would they come back? They came the first time to get something and they got nothing."

Willie said his friend was beaten up and tied up by them.

Willie insists he has no idea who the perpetrators are. He said his friend, who was butt-ended in the face and lost teeth, told him one was white and two were black. He said they were 16 to 19 years of age, all with slender builds.

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Francisci was shot after two of the intruders were about to chase Willie and the tenant. He said one of the intruders pointed the rifle in the face of his friend.

Willie's friend told him he pushed the muzzle down and a shot entered the woman's abdomen. The rifle was dropped. Police have seized it.

Willie said the intruders left with four watches, one of which Francisci had given him.

Willie has one 2013 conviction for possession of a controlled substance. He said he was caught with a "weed pipe."

Court records indicate he received a suspended sentence and 18 months' probation from provincial court judge Anton Zuraw on April 5, 2013.

He insists he has turned his life around and has applied for a pardon.

Willie said he believes the police view him as a suspect. Police executed a search warrant at his residence Tuesday.

"They searched the whole place. Not only am I cleaning up my girlfriend's blood, I'm taking my clothes out of my girlfriend's blood. I still haven't finished cleaning because I'm sitting there traumatized."

Willie attended Westdale where the six-foot-four athlete excelled at basketball. But he admitted he sold drugs at school and was eventually kicked out for marijuana use. He has since obtained his Grade 12 diploma and is in the second year of the early childhood education program at Humber College.

Willie said Francisci is a baker at Weil's Bakery in Westdale who has her priorities straight.

"She is all about family. She is all about honesty, trust, care, love. She is just an all-around good girl. She's never been in trouble. She does her own thing, never steps on anyone's toes."

He visited his girlfriend Wednesday.

"She couldn't talk to me; she could only open her eyes. I couldn't stand it. It hurt me even more."