Surrey man gets 12 years in jail for shooting student
Mistakenly believed teen, who survived, was a member of a rival drug gang
A Surrey man who shot a university student in a case of mistaken identity has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
In February, Saeed Mobeen Rana, 25, was convicted of the April 2016 attempted murder of the 19-year-old student, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban imposed to protect him.
Rana’s trial heard that at the time of the shooting, he and his associates in the drug trade were involved in an escalating dispute with a rival drug group.
Less than a week before the shooting, Rana’s mother’s home in Surrey was shot up by persons unknown and the day before the shooting of the student, an attempt had been made on Rana’s life.
The student had left his home driving his father’s BMW sedan when he pulled over to the side of the road at 88 Ave. in a residential neighbourhood.
Rana and three of his associates arrived at the scene in another vehicle, intending to ambush a member or members of the rival group. But in the mistaken belief that the student was their intended target, Rana and two others opened fire.
Rana fired at least five shots before his firearm malfunctioned. A total of 20 shots were fired. There were 16 bullet holes in the BMW, with police later finding several bullet holes in the fences of nearby residences.
The student, who was shot in the thigh and survived, said in a victim impact statement that the incident had caused him emotional trauma and he continued to fear for his safety.
“I agree with the submission of the Crown that the location of the shooting in a residential neighbourhood in the early afternoon constituted a substantial risk to the public and is a significant aggravating factor,” B.C. Supreme Court Justice Paul Pearlman said in imposing sentence Friday.
“Mr. Rana and his associates acted in reckless disregard for the safety of innocent persons in the neighbourhood.”
The judge said the victim had
Mr. Rana and his associates acted in reckless disregard for the safety of innocent persons in the neighbourhood.
suffered through a “terrifying event” and it was only through “good fortune” that he was not more seriously injured or killed.
He said the aggravating factors also included the number of shots fired and that the offence involved premeditation and the targeting of a rival group of drug traffickers.
Pearlman said a significant sentence was required to denounce Rana’s conduct and to impress upon him and others the court’s view that such conduct is not to be tolerated.
Rana, who has a prior criminal record including offences for uttering threats and assault, was on probation at the time of the shooting incident.
During the sentencing hearing, he apologized to the victim, expressed remorse and said he’d put his life of crime behind him.
The judge imposed a sentence of 12 years in prison for the attempted murder, which will be reduced to 10 years and four months after he receives credit for pre-sentence custody.
Rana was also convicted of possession of a loaded, restricted firearm and unauthorized possession of a firearm in a motor vehicle, offences for which he received a jail term of four years, six months. That sentence will run concurrently with his sentence for attempted murder.
In November, John Stanley Cullen, one of Rana’s co-accused, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was sentenced to 10 years.