A Surrey mother wants to know why RCMP officers never attended their home after a shirtless man smashed their door in, leaving the family terrified Wednesday morning.
“I was feeling anxious and scared — I was like who is this person and why is he banging on the door?” Vasiyah Mohammadi told Global News.
“I was scared for my husband because he was the close contact to him and was behind the door, holding the door … my kids were really scared, they were scared to come down the stairs to go to school.”
The incident began just after 5 a.m. when Mohammadi said the family was awakened by banging and screaming downstairs.
Her husband got up to check and found the stranger kicking and pounding the door.
“He broke our lock, he came inside, and my husband pushed him out. In the meantime, I called 911 for help, I spoke to an operator, And nobody came,” she said.
“In the meantime, my kids were awakened, my parents were awakened, they were all scared and shaken.”
After about 15 minutes, the man left, Mohammadi said despite the 911 operator’s assurances, Mounties never arrived at the house.
It was only after she called a second time that an officer phoned her back.
“They said they had the guy and it was hard for them to deal with him,” she said.
“How many officers are there that they are so busy? They should have many officers on duty. If anybody has an emergency they can’t say they’re busy. What if the guy had some weapon?”
Surrey RCMP spokesperson Const. Vanessa Munn said police were deployed and able to arrest the suspect, who was intoxicated, within about 15 minutes of the original call.
She said officers weren’t able to attend Mohammadi’s house because they had to respond to two additional calls about the same man.
“As they were en route, they got updates that that man was at a different residence, and then after that, at a different residence,” she said.
“So the priority was locating this man and finding out what was going on, why he was banging on the door, whether he was trying to get in or maybe him himself possibly required police assistance or some kind of help.”
Munn said the suspect was in an agitated state, which meant both officers had to transport him to jail to ensure he was booked in safely.
She said police contacted the family by phone, and have assigned another officer to follow up including taking statements, photographing damage and connecting the family with victims’ services.
It’s an answer that isn’t comforting to Mohammadi.
“If I was alone by myself, what would I have done if he had entered? I have elderly parents and I have small kids. I would not have been able to handle the situation on my own,” she said.
“It would have been a different scenario I think if the RCMP had just came and told us ‘hey, listen, we have the guy you are safe’,” she added. “What’s the point in calling 911 if they’re not going to come and we have to protect ourselves?”