The father of a young man shot dead in their family’s Mississauga restaurant in 2021 described on the stand how he pursued the shooter even though he had also just been shot in the chest.
But the father, Jihad Akl, could not catch the shooter as he fled towards a waiting car, so flagged down another man to call 911 and then returned to find the bloody scene the shooter had left behind, with his wife, other son, and a delivery driver also injured, Akl said.
“We were working, me and my family. It was a busy day for us,” Akl said in a Brampton courtroom on Monday during the trial of a trio alleged to have connections to the listed terrorist group the Islamic State.
“I heard something, a pop-pop-pop. I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t think it was anything. Then I saw a man come in, pointing a gun… He shot my driver. He shot my son in the front. Then he shot me…
“Then I saw my wife on the ground crying. I went out to see the guy, just to see what’s happened. I just wanted to know what happened,” he said.
He returned to find his son, 25-year-old Naim Akl, on the ground, and started screaming his name, Akl said.
The shooter didn’t say anything, Akl recalled: “Not a word. He didn’t ask for anything.”
The Crown has alleged that shooter was Anand Nath, his getaway driver was Suliman Raza, and organizing the operation was Naqash Abassi. All have pleaded not guilty.
The trio are accused of the attack on May 29, 2021 on the Chicken Land restaurant in Mississauga. The trial has heard that Naim Akl was working at a warehouse business named TryALinc, which ordered cheap products from overseas and sold them locally on Amazon.
The Crown has alleged the business was actually raising money for the Islamic State, and that its members felt Akl was a threat after he left the business to resume working at his family’s restaurant.
Police found Islamic State propaganda on one of the accused’s phone, and one witness has told the court that Nath told him he believed he had to commit the murder to get into heaven.
Akl testified he underwent surgery to remove the bullet from his chest and was in hospital for several days after the shooting.
