The past week has been a rollercoaster of emotions for Mohammad Ali, assistant manager at H&Z Market in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood.
On a fateful day, while tending to his duties at the store near Main Street and 16th Avenue, Ali found himself in a harrowing situation. In the early hours of the morning, two individuals were involved in a dispute over a cab outside the store. When one of them demanded the store manager to call a cab for him and was refused, tensions escalated.
Hours later, the same individual returned to the store, seeking the manager. Ali, in an attempt to defuse the situation, informed the individual that the manager who could assist him would be arriving later in the evening. However, things took a frightening turn when the individual, in a perplexing turn of events, questioned Ali about having only one leg, despite Ali having both.
In a chilling moment, the individual revealed a gun hidden under his jacket and proceeded to shoot Ali in the leg, leaving him in shock as blood sprayed and burned his limb.
The suspect, identified as 32-year-old Victor Sorensen-Avila by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD), was swiftly apprehended by the Kamloops RCMP later that day for a separate offense. Sorensen-Avila now faces charges of aggravated assault and assault with a weapon, adding to his history of prior run-ins with the law for theft and firearms-related offenses.
Meanwhile, Ali is on the road to recovery, taking each day as it comes. The outpouring of support from his community has been a source of strength for him during this challenging period.
A GoFundMe campaign has garnered over $44,000 in donations to aid Ali in his journey to healing and moving forward.
