'He's lucky to be alive': Business owner shot by masked robbers in Surrey
Video has surfaced that appears to show a terrifying attempted robbery unfolding at a Surrey jewelry store where the owner was reportedly shot four times over the weekend.
In the video, yelling can be heard outside the store followed by gunshots after a chaotic confrontation erupted at the business on near 101 Avenue and 152 Street Sunday.
Store manager Mazhar Qawasmeh says that the business owner remains in hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.
“He’s lucky to be alive. I mean to be shot from zero distance four times, that’s a miracle,” he said.
“It’s horrible. It shouldn’t happen.”
Qawasmeh was not working at the time but says he has since learned what unfolded.
The violence began just before closing on Sunday, he said, explaining that a woman who was leaving the normally locked store held the door open.
“And at that moment, five guys with two guns, they came in the store and tried to threaten everyone,” he told CTV News.
He said when the owner then tried to stop the masked intruders, a fight broke out. He said the owner was shot in the leg twice inside the store and twice outside.
A female employee was also assaulted, he said.
“(the thieves) obviously were panicking. They couldn’t get away with anything,” the manager said.
Qawasmeh said when the thieves tried to leave, they couldn’t get out of the locked door and smashed through a window to escape. He said the owner then followed them outside.
“He probably wasn’t aware of the fact he was shot… At this point, sometimes your adrenaline would be at the highest,” Qawasmeh said.
“They shot him again. It’s just insane,” he said.
Surrey RCMP Cpl. Sarbjit Sangha said when officers arrived, they found a victim suffering from gunshot wounds.
“One victim was taken to hospital. He remains in hospital. He has non life-threatening injuries,” she said.
The manager said the owner has already undergone surgery and will require another as he recovers from the shooting. Meanwhile, Qawasmeh said police have seized video surveillance from inside the store.
Mounties told CTV News that, so far, no arrests have been made.
“The types of events are well organized by the suspects. They have obviously done their work up on this particular store,” Sangha told CTV News.
“When you have masked men with guns come into your business to attack you, it is a very scary situation. Not just for the people who are in the store but the public who might be in this area.”
Police are asking anyone with dashcam or other video connected to the incident to contact them.
Qawasmeh said the store will be improving its security measures and that he hopes the thieves can be found and brought to justice.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6976926.1721883767!/httpImage/image.png_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.png)
DEVELOPING Alberta's request for federal assistance approved after fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park: Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on social media that Ottawa has approved Alberta's request for federal assistance after a fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park and its townsite late Wednesday.
Jasper mayor says alert system to be reviewed after message 'glitch'
More than 25,000 people have been displaced from Jasper National Park since wildfires started to threaten the picturesque corner of Alberta Rockies on Monday, but the mayor of its namesake municipality says not everyone received an evacuation alert when it was sent out.
Canada's premiers forced to confront escalating climate change-related disasters
Many of Canada's provincial and territorial leaders remained consumed by climate change-related natural disasters that have only escalated since they met for meetings in Halifax last week.
Biden explains why he ended re-election bid in Oval Office address
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a solemn call to voters to defend the country's democracy as he laid out in an Oval Office address his decision to drop his bid for reelection and throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Unclaimed bodies are piling up in Newfoundland. A funeral director blames the government
A funeral director in St. John's says the bodies piling up in freezers at Newfoundland and Labrador's largest hospital likely belong to people whose loved ones couldn't get enough government help to pay for a funeral.
U.K. police officer suspended after video appears to show a man being kicked in head
A British police officer was suspended from all duties Thursday after a video was posted on social media that appeared to show an officer kicking and stamping on the head of a man lying on the floor of a terminal at Manchester Airport.
Norad intercepts Russian and Chinese bombers operating together near Alaska in apparent first
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska Wednesday in what appears to be the first time the two countries have been intercepted while operating together.
Barrie-Innisfil MPP 'blacked-out' and crashed car into window of child care centre
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.
Monday breaks the record for the hottest day ever on Earth
Driven by oceans that won't cool down, an unseasonably warm Antarctica and worsening climate change, Earth's record hot streak dialed up this week, making Monday the hottest day humans have measured.