"No one is safe here": Cashier speaks out after daylight knifepoint robbery downtown (VIDEO)
A cashier who was held at knifepoint during a daylight robbery last week says he is reconsidering his future in Vancouver.
Syed Razee Uddin Ahmed, 21, was less than an hour into his morning shift Friday when two people wearing masks, hoodies, and hats barged into the Smoke and Food shop.
“One robber with the knife threatened me that if I don’t follow him, he will stab me,” Ahmed explained to Daily Hive. “He placed his knife towards my stomach. And then he threatened me to open the till and lay down on the ground.”
While one person took out money from the cash register, another suspect filled their bag with merchandise.
The robbery, which lasted about two minutes, was caught on the store’s surveillance cameras.
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Vancouver police confirmed this incident was reported to the department and said $7,000 in merchandise was taken from the store.
“The worst thing is that it happened in broad daylight, with people outside. This is a busy street but they don’t hesitate to do this,” the manager of the shop near Smithe and Seymour streets, Nawaz, added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The cashier did not sustain any injuries.
Ahmed moved to Canada from India less than a year ago and says “I thought [Vancouver] was a safer place. But after this incident, we are not sure. No one is safe here.”
“I could not sleep for the whole night for that day. Like that incident keeps repeating in my mind and I cannot focus on one thing,” he added. “I was not able to go to class the last couple of days now.”
The young cashier added that he is not sure if he will live in Vancouver long term and would even warn friends who are considering the move of the safety risks.
“I would have never imagined that it could have happened here. I have seen news that this kind of incident happens in the US but I’d never expected it in Vancouver.”
Nawaz says their store has been broken into several times over the past five months, but the latest robbery has been the scariest by far.
“It’s getting worse day by day in downtown Vancouver,” he said.
With files from Arash Randjbar and Irish Mae Silvestre
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