With less than a month to go before Christmas, Andrea Petifer can’t stop thinking about the one present in her bedroom that will remain unopened.
Instead of being worn by Petifer’s grandson on Christmas morning, the new pajamas will remain in their box. His niece, Aminah Guy, 19, was killed in a suspected double-suicide in Cary last week, ending life before it began.
“I’ve never, in my entire life, felt so broken,” Petifer said Friday, her voice cracking. “I have never felt this pain before.”
To hear about Aminah Guy is to learn about a girl who chased her dreams with passion, creating handwritten “goal lists” each semester to share with her loved ones. She was a talented athlete who enjoyed teaching children at the Hillsborough Street YMCA where she worked and spent a lot of time with her three grandchildren, calling them her sisters.
“He touched everyone he met, and the performance was beautiful, and it was beautiful, and it was funny, and it was full of joy and life,” Petifer said.
‘The world was his’
Before her life was cut short Nov. 18, the world was Aminah Guy’s oyster, her aunt said. A native of Santa Monica, California, he had moved with his mother and twin sister to North Carolina before sixth grade, eventually being close enough to visit the Petifer grandchildren in Durham, where he adored.
The five siblings, nicknamed the “Five Se” because their names all start with the same letter, spent every vacation together and explored the Triangle during “Camp Petifer” summer vacations that were spent at Petifer’s house, his aunt and sister said. When the Guys moved to Raleigh three years later, it was like a dream come true.
After graduating from Athens Drive High School, where he participated in volleyball, track, basketball and student government, Guy enrolled at NC Central University. It was the right next step: His sister-in-law, Alana Petifer, had gone there and Andrea Petifer, her husband and two other family members were also Eagles.
“I said this in his obituary, that he lived the motto of NCCU before he got there: truth and service,” Andrea Petifer said. “So for him to go there was a coincidence.”
Guy originally had a background in technology but switched to business with the hope of following his passion – creating invitations, logos and posters for family members and friends. His art was as fascinating as his love of learning, his aunt said.
“He read a lot, he studied a lot, he got a lot,” Andrea Petifer said. “The world was his.”
Not long into his freshman year, Guy met a freshman named Xavier Holton, who lived in the same residence hall. They hit it off quickly and started dating. Alana Petifer only met her cousin’s boyfriend a couple of times, but nothing seemed to go wrong, she said.
That ended Nov. 8. Guy had taken a semester off to start over, working full time at the YMCA instead, but Holton was still an active student at NCCU when he crashed into a stationary car going 100 mph on Interstate 440 East shortly before 8. a.m. Both vehicles caught fire, and Holton was cited for reckless driving, speeding and failure to maintain lane, court records show.
According to the Petifers, the accident was a suicide attempt, and the first time they heard about Holton’s mental health issues. Police have not commented on the Nov. 8 crash, and The News & Observer was unable to reach Holton’s immediate family.
“He never showed any threatening or controlling behavior,” Andrea Petifer said. “However, after trying to kill myself in a car accident, [Guy] he began to say that he had noticed that he was acting strangely.
Ten days later, Cary police were called to Holton’s Smokemont Drive home, where they found Guy, Holton and Erica Holton, his mother, inside, all shot.
Police have not said who they believe was the shooter, pending an autopsy, but court records indicate Holton may have been responsible. A loaded handgun was found in a sink near Holton’s body, which was found on a different floor than his mother’s and Guy’s, according to the search warrant.
Aminah Guy was a student at NCCU and a graduate of Athens Drive High School.
The loss has torn Guy’s close-knit family apart. To make matters worse, Andrea Petifer said, she couldn’t escape the photos in the local news of Guy and Holton together.
“My nephew was caught, and out of all the photos with journalists, they chose that one,” he said. “Every time I saw it, I thought of Zora Neale Hurston’s words: ‘They’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.’ That’s what came to me.
Reducing Guy’s life to the last moments of his life is insulting, Petifer said. He would like people to know about the craters left in Guy’s wake, for his mother, twins, brothers and friends who will mourn him forever.
“When I look at my granddaughter, I see a teenage girl on the cusp of becoming a woman, just taking the first steps to becoming one, and now she’s gone,” Petifer said. “That’s what’s hard for me.”
A Gofundme account to help pay for Guy’s funeral had raised $17,800 as of Friday night.
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 for 24/7 support in English and Spanish.