Muslim Mall Security Officer Helps Save Woman from Abduction
BY JENNA MCMURRAY ,CALGARY SUNFIRST
POSTED: MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012 04:11 PM MDT |
Khalid Shahid says he didn’t think twice about the authenticity of a stranger’s hand-scrawled note pleading for help.
And one month after he helped save her from an alleged abductor, Mounties recognized Shahid’s bravery and quick thinking.
March 28 was a normal day for Shahid, assistant site supervisor for security at CrossIron Mills shopping centre, until a Good Samaritan passed him the note.
It had been written by a woman claiming to be with her alleged kidnapper and begging for someone to call 911.
“Even if it’s a joke, even if it happens 100 times, we’ll respond to it again because should there be a serious matter, we’d never want to take it lightly,” said Shahid.
Security contacted the RCMP — which had two plainclothes officers nearby — while Shahid and a colleague found the woman, who had stepped outside the mall to smoke with a man.
“As she was coming back in, she kind of leaned over, looked right at me and whispered with her lips, ‘Help me,’ and right there I knew it was serious,” he said.
He crafted a plan to get her and suspect into the mall security office — telling her she looked pale, asking if she was on medication and telling her staff trained in First Aid could check her health.
Once in the office, the plainclothes RCMP members identified themselves and the man allegedly grabbed the woman and later became “belligerent” with the authorities, said Shahid.
Eventually the man, who is from Innisfail but can’t be named, was taken into custody.
On Monday, RCMP Insp. Toni Hamori presented Shahid with a Detachment Commander’s Certificate of Appreciation.
“There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind had he not had the presence of mind to do what he did — first off to take the note seriously and then to negotiate the victim and the suspect into the mall security office — we could have had a much worse scenario on our hands than we did,” said Hamori, adding the woman had tried to give away a similar note earlier but was unsuccessful.
The victim and suspect had recently separated from a domestic relationship because of abusive behaviour, say police.
The woman reported an incident March 15 and the accused was arrested and released on strict conditions, which cops allege he violated.
He faces 15 charges including forcible confinement and assault.
The RCMP also plans to recognize the Good Samaritan who turned in the note to CrossIron Mills security.
Shahid said he hopes to one day have a career with the RCMP.
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