Robbery suspect is accused of setting a store clerk on fire

Prosecutors in Contra Costa County have charged a 38-yearold man with six felony counts for allegedly setting a store clerk on fire during a robbery in El Sobrante.

In a court complaint filed last week, Deputy District Attorney Brian Baker laid out the unsettling details of the crime. According to the document and a statement from the victim’s family, the attack occurred on Sept. 22 when accused perpetrator Kendall Lavanon Burton was allegedly stealing items from a convenience store where Suraj Bhandari worked.

While the initial exchange between the two men was not described in court documents, the complaint indicated that their encounter quickly turned violent. Burton allegedly doused Bhandari with corrosive acid and then set the clerk aflame, an act captured in a horrific security camera video that was circulated on social media.

The defendant is now facing charges of second degree robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, assault with caustic chemicals, arson causing great bodily injury, mayhem and aggravated mayhem for “intentionally caus (ing) permanent disability and disfigurement.” His attorney was not immediately available to comment on Monday morning.

Photos posted on a GoFundMe page created by Bhandari’s wife, Sabeena Parajuli, showed the clerk lying in a hospital bed with bandages over his eyes and neck.

“We are overwhelmed by the mental trauma and the pressure of medical procedures,” Parajuli wrote. She said her husband was receiving treatment in St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco.

Parajuli did not immediately respond to a request for comment.