It’s been an emotional week for H&Z Market assistant manager Mohammad Ali.

On Sept. 6, Ali was working at the store, located near Main Street and 16th Avenue in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, when he was shot in the leg.

Ali says that around 4 a.m. that morning, two men were trying to get into a cab outside the store. The man who didn’t get the cab then demanded the store manager call another for him, but he refused after seeing how the man was behaving outside. 

Ali says that man came back hours later, at almost 7 a.m., looking for the manager. 

“I told him, my boss who works night shifts, he went home, and he’ll come at nighttime,” he said.

“He said, ‘What time?’ I said nighttime, and he said, ‘I have to wait until he comes,’ and I said, ‘Brother, I have no idea what happened with you or other people.’”

He says the man then asked him a confusing question.

“He asked me, ‘You have only one leg?’” said Ali, who has both legs.

“When I looked at him, he pointed his gun under his jacket like this.”

That’s when Ali says he was shot in the leg.

“I see the blood … like a spray, blood coming, burning my leg,” he said.

The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) identified 32-year-old Victor Sorensen-Avila as the suspect. Later that day, Kamloops RCMP took him into custody on an unrelated matter.

“Thanks to the quick-paced investigation we were able to identify and arrest him that very same day,” said VPD media relations officer Const. Darren Wong. 

“This man is charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon.”

Police say Sorensen-Avila is known to them and had previously faced theft and firearms-related charges.

As for Ali, he is taking his recovery one day at a time. He says having the support of his community has made all the difference.

“People cry sometimes with joy, sometimes with sad,” he said.

“But this is with joy, because people, lots of people, care for me.”

Over $44,000 has been raised for Ali through a GoFundMe campaign.