A Winnipeg man says he’s traumatized and suffering extreme pain after being shot seven times in his legs during an armed robbery at his home-based business earlier this month.
The incident happened on Oct. 9, when robbers armed with guns drawn stormed into Rajan Jewellers in Winnipeg’s Maples area.
“This pain is the worst pain in my life,” said Rajan Dhalla, who runs the business. “Too much pain. I can’t sleep.”
Surveillance footage of the robbery shared by Dhalla with CBC News appears to show the thieves entering his home at 6:25 p.m. They make a beeline for an area in the home containing an assortment of jewelry.
The video shows some of the thieves begin to stuff bags full of the jewelry, as Dhalla’s father is dragged to the side and is eventually shot in the leg.
He’s recovering from the gunshot wound in hospital, Dhalla said.
WATCH | Winnipeg man traumatized after armed robbery at home-based business: :
2 men recovering after being shot during robbery at home business
Two Winnipeg men who were shot during an armed robbery at their home-based jewellery business on Oct. 9 say thieves made off with nearly $1 million worth of goods.
In total, the thieves made off with close to $1 million worth of gold, he said.
Winnipeg police confirmed to CBC News they responded to the incident around 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 9, and two men were taken to hospital in stable condition with gunshot injuries.
The major crimes unit is investigating, police said in a statement.
In the footage shared with CBC, Dhalla can be seen trying to fight back by throwing items at the thieves as well.
Rajan Dhalla shows some of the injuries he sustained during the Oct. 9 robbery. (CBC)
He’s now in hospital too, recovering from his own gunshot wounds. He’s had surgery for a fractured femur, he told CBC. One of the bullets hit Dhalla near the groin and went through the other side, he said.
A doctor at the hospital told him if the bullet had hit just a couple of centimetres away, it could have been fatal, he said.
“Only that much [of a] difference,” said Dhalla. “They said, ‘God [gave] you a new life.'”
‘Not feeling safe now’
Dhalla and members of his family — many of whom were in the home at the time of the incident for a birthday celebration for his wife — have been left shaken and traumatized.
Video of the incident also shows a group of people being herded into the garage area of Dhalla’s home. Another angle appears to capture a getaway vehicle arriving at the home seconds later to pick up the people involved in the theft.
It speeds off about three minutes after the robbers first came through the front door.
Video footage shows the robbers getting into this vehicle, which then sped away about three minutes after the incident began. (Submitted by Rajan Dhalla)
Dhalla also said the business may have been threatened previously. This past winter, a person came into the business and told him it was supposed to be robbed months earlier, he said.
He didn’t contact police at the time because he didn’t want to “take any risks” and thought he was being bullied, he said. Now, he wishes he had.
“We are not feeling safe now,” he said. “We are planning to move back to our home country [India]. We moved here, we get our citizenship, we do work, but if we’re not safe, why are we going to live here?”
Customers were also in the home-based business at the time of the robbery, Dhalla said.
Rajan Jewellers does have a residential home-based business development permit, which a city website says allows for a jeweller with a maximum floor area of 400 square feet or 25 per cent of the gross floor area of the home, whichever is less. Under the permit, it is “limited to paperwork which may include the taking of telephone orders,” the city’s website says.
The permit also says the permit does not allow “employees or customers on premises, and personal service provided on premises.”
Dhalla said Rajan Jewellers’ business is done online, but people sometimes come to the home-based business because the Indian community is tight-knit.
“Sometimes, the customers we know, they are coming because all the Indian people, they are family friends,” he said.
He also said he’s planning to move the business to a shop in the near future, but it’s currently under renovation.
For now, Dhalla said his family has been left physically, mentally and financially broken by the robbery.
“Basically, I want justice,” he said.
