Flint police officers comfort Neketia Alyatim after she arrived at the scene of a shooting that fatally wounded her husband Monir Alyatim while he was working around 11:15 p.m. on a Sunday night at Saba’s Mini Mart in Flint, Mich. “My husband, my husband,” said Neketia. “They Stole So Much More” On the night of September 21, store clerk Monir Alyatim was fatally shot during a robbery while working at Saba’s Mini Mart in Flint, Mich. Alaytim left behind a wife of ten years and two small children. With her husband’s death, Neketia was thrust into her new role as a single mother and the responsibility of picking up the pieces.
Family and friends view the remains of Monir Alyatim in September at St. George Orthodox Church, where her husband worshipped. Monir was killed during a robbery while working at Saba’s Mini Mart in Flint on September 21.
After hours of trying to put her youngest son Joshua to bed, Neketia takes a moment to herself in the family’s kitchen. Neketia says her youngest son Joshua has started screaming more since the tragedy and sometimes refuses to sleep without his mother.
From left, Joshua, 2, Jerious, 8, and Neketia Alyatim waits for her mother on an errand in October. “I’m tired,” said Neketia. “I’m 33 years old, and I feel like I’m an old woman.”
Neketia notices a wedding dress on display while at the mall with her children. She would have celebrated her ten year wedding anniversary in November. “He had already bought the cake and everything,” said Neketia.
Neketia laughs with friend Colleen Bearup, left, while playing cards with the children. “I have two boys to raise,” said Neketia. “And I’ll be damned if I’m going to raise them in bitterness, anger, and hatred because that’s not what life is about.”
Neketia hugs her son Joshua in the family’s kitchen. “I didn’t give birth to them to have an ugly life,” said Neketia.
