Reza Rahiman, 46, had pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm with the intent to endanger the life of a person after shooting at a vehicle driven by an 18-year-old two years ago.
A Ladysmith man who opened fire on a teenager in what a judge called a “completely over the top” Nanaimo road rage incident two years ago has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison.
Reza Rahiman, 46, pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm with the intent to endanger the life of a person, possessing a loaded restricted or prohibited firearm without having a licence or registration certificate for the firearm, and possessing a prohibited firearm knowing he did not have a licence.
Rahiman had faced a charge of attempted murder, but entered guilty pleas on the other counts on July 7, the day his trial was scheduled to start.
The charges stem from a Feb. 5, 2023, incident. Rahiman was driving northbound on the Nanaimo Parkway around 12:45 p.m. behind a vehicle driven by an 18-year-old who repeatedly braked suddenly and rapidly accelerated, said B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robin Baird at Rahiman’s sentencing hearing Tuesday.
Rahiman became annoyed and passed the driver on the shoulder, giving him the finger as he passed, Baird said.
Both drivers turned right onto Northfield Road and stopped at a red light at Boxwood Road, where the teen pulled his vehicle around Rahiman’s.
Rahiman got out of his Jeep and kicked the other driver’s vehicle. The driver then reversed into Rahiman’s Jeep, damaging it.
Rahiman, who was armed with a nine-millimetre handgun, fired two shots into the front passenger side of the driver’s vehicle, one of which would likely have struck the 18-year-old if not for a spare tire stored on the front passenger seat, Baird said.
“There’s no excuse for it. You could have killed this kid. It was an outrageous act of gratuitous violence as far as I’m concerned,” Baird said.
Several people witnessed the shooting, including a person who photographed Rahiman hiding the handgun under his clothes as he fled the scene.
Rahiman called police three minutes after the shooting to falsely report that his licence plate had been stolen, Baird said.
Within half an hour, police stopped Rahiman’s Jeep on Cedar Road and arrested him. A search of the car revealed the semi-automatic nine-millimetre Glock 48 handgun used in the shooting. It was under a plastic sheet on the front passenger seat within reach of the driver and had eight rounds remaining in the 10-round magazine.
Police also found two unloaded assault rifles and a box of nine-millimetre ammunition wrapped in a blanket in the rear of the vehicle. Both were equipped with a red-dot sight, which is typically used by law enforcement and military members, Baird said. One of the rifles was a prohibited firearm.
In a search of the Ladysmith home Rahiman shares with his parents, Mounties found around 300 rounds of ammunition suitable for the assault rifles, a single nine-millimetre round and ballistic body armour inside a locked gun safe hidden behind a hinged mirror in the master bedroom.
All of the firearms are owned and registered to Rahiman’s father, who was in the courtroom for his son’s sentencing, Baird said.
Baird said no explanation has been given for the cache of weapons and armour.
Rahiman previously applied for a firearms licence but was denied, he said.
Even if Rahiman had a licence for the firearm, “it is highly illegal in this country for anyone to have a readily accessible, loaded firearm in a motor vehicle. A strong punitive and deterrent sentence is clearly required in this case,” Baird said, calling Rahiman’s behaviour “violent, reckless and stupid.”
Several family members submitted character letters in support of Rahiman, calling him “good-natured, helpful, caring, compassionate and hard-working,” and saying the violent behaviour is out of character, Baird said.
However, Rahiman has a lengthy criminal record, with 13 convictions between 2001 and 2017, including dangerous operation of a vehicle, two counts of assaulting a peace officer, uttering threats and harassing communications.
Rahiman is not a person of exemplary character, but “a recidivist criminal offender who was before the court on a near annual basis between the ages of 22 and 38 answering to charges that show a persistent inability to properly regulate his behaviour and a petulant disregard for the law,” Baird said.
Rahiman has a pattern of poor impulse control, anti-social inclinations and a willingness to disregard court orders, and previous sentences have not driven home a sense of responsibility, he said.
Baird said he would have sentenced Rahiman to seven years on the charge of discharging a firearm with intent to endanger a life, but reduced it to five years and six months due to Rahiman’s guilty plea, the fact he has spent 26 months on 24-hour house arrest since his release on bail, his family support and the gap in his criminal record from 2017 to the 2023 shooting.
Rahiman will serve concurrent sentences of three years and one year on the other two counts and will face a lifetime weapons ban.
Baird also directed that his reasons for sentencing be shared with the chief firearms officer for the province.
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