Two more witnesses who jumped into action to help save a Surrey man who was set on fire inside his business earlier this month are sharing their accounts of the terrifying incident.
Global News has also learned the suspect in what RCMP said was an attempted murder, was wanted in Alberta at the time of the alleged attack.
“We saw an episode that usually you can’t see in movies,” Qasim Khanzada said Monday.
Khanzada and Khalid Chohan never expected a meeting with a local business owner would turn into a life-saving effort.
“It’s very sad,” Khanzada told Global News in an interview.
On August 2, the pair, along with Zeeshan Wahla, were waiting inside Whalley’s SNS Currency Exchange when owner Rahat Rao went into a back room with a man who appeared to be a client.
Seconds later, the trio sensed something was wrong when Khanzada saw fire through the door’s hinges.
“It’s very scary, he (Rao) was screaming inside,” said Chohan, who serves as president of the Pakistani-Canadian Community Association.
“After a few seconds, the door opened and we saw Rahat Rao in flames,” added Khanzada.
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The currency exchange owner ran outside, followed by the three men, who did what they could to put out the fire.
“It was, like, literally a foot above his head,” recalled Khanzada. “He was on fire from head to toe.”
Chohan called 911 and the trio rushed to cover Rao in a blanket, prayer mat and jacket before first responders arrived on scene.
“I was just coordinating all the effort over there, I was calm but the day was very bad for me,” recounted Chohan.
The suspect, who RCMP say doused Rao in accelerant and lit him on fire, escaped out the back door of the business and remains at large.
Kalid Seid Yimer, 33, is also the subject of a June 27 arrest warrant out of Edmonton, after he did not show up in court on that date.
Records from Alberta Justice show Yimer is charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, threats to cause death or bodily harm and threats to cause damage in that province.
“This is the concern for sure, because people they are already charged, they are dangerous to society should not be released,” Chohan told Global News.
On August 8, a meeting organized by the Canadian Muslim Media Club was broadcast live on Facebook to address the community’s concerns surrounding the incident.
During the program, Chohan called for calm and restraint as police search for a motive in what they believe was a targeted attack.
Rao, who owns two businesses at the currency exchange address in the 10200 block of City Parkway in Surrey, SNS Travel and SNS Vapes, is now out of intensive care and recovering from serious burns to 55 per cent of his body, according to Chohan.
Friends said they can’t understand why anyone would want to target Rao, who is well-known in the local Canadian-Pakistani community as an activist who weighs in on politics on his YouTube channel, ‘Overseas view with Rahat Rao.’
Rao is also one of two directors with Canadian Muslim Advocacy International and is known to share Islam at a booth set up outside his business near Surrey Central Station every weekend.
“He’s such a perfect, beautiful, loving, caring gentleman and a good soul,” said Khanzada, who added the community is having a very hard time.
“With the sense and feeling that we are not safe, our families are not safe, our children are not safe, nobody’s safe.”
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