Restaurant Owner Doused in Attack, Seriously Burned

SIMI VALLEY —  The owner of a local restaurant was clinging to life Monday with burns on his upper body that he told police were caused by an attacker who doused him with a flammable liquid and set him on fire, authorities said.

Mumtaz Fazli, 45, was taken to Simi Valley Hospital, where fumes from his injuries sickened nurses and prompted hospital officials to close the emergency room for 90 minutes, officials said.

Firefighters were called to the Walck-In restaurant on Kuehner Drive about 9 p.m. Sunday. They saw smoke billowing from the back of the restaurant, but found no one inside.

The badly injured Fazli had stumbled out of the burning restaurant and into a neighboring liquor store to ask for help, police said. The store’s owner drove Fazli to the hospital, where he was treated for second- and third-degree burns over his face, chest and arms, police said.

Three nurses treating Fazli said fumes from his body made their eyes burn, said hospital spokeswoman Alicia Gonzalez.

Hospital officials said they did not know what substance Fazli was doused with. As a precaution, the emergency room was evacuated while the Fire Department’s hazardous-materials team checked for toxic chemicals in the air, Gonzalez said. Paramedics were rerouted to Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center.

Ventura County Fire Department investigators were still analyzing the substance late Monday. Police, however, said the substance appeared to be gasoline.

Authorities are still trying to piece together the attack. Fazli said he was closing his restaurant when someone pulled open a back door and tossed liquid on him.

How the fire started is unclear, but Simi Valley Police Lt. Neal Rein said Fazli could have been standing near the restaurant’s water heater, which could have ignited the fluid.

Police believe the attacker’s intent was to burn down the building, not to harm Fazli. A large amount of the liquid was found throughout the building, authorities said. “It doesn’t look like he was supposed to be burned, and the building was burned in the process,” Rein said. “It looks like it was the other way around.”

Fazli was airlifted about midnight Sunday to the Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital, where he is listed in critical but stable condition.

The nurses and about 20 firefighters who battled the restaurant blaze suffered no ill effects from the burning chemical, authorities said.

Most of the damage at the eatery occurred to the contents of the building, though the fire did cause some structural damage, said Joe Luna, public information officer for the county Fire Department. There was no estimate of the financial loss to the building.

Anyone with information on the arson is asked to call Simi Valley Police Department at 583-6937.