Cary college student had her whole life ahead of her. Then, gun violence cut it short.
With less than a month to go before Christmas, Andrea Petifer can’t stop thinking about the one gift in her bedroom that will stay unopened.
Instead of being worn by Petifer’s niece on Christmas morning, the new pair of pajamas will remain in their box. Her niece, 19-year-old Aminah Guy, was killed in a suspected double murder-suicide in Cary last week, ending a life barely begun.
“I have never, in my entire life, felt so broken,” Petifer said Friday, her voice cracking. “I’ve never felt this pain.”
To hear about Aminah Guy is to learn of a girl who chased her dreams with passion, crafting handwritten “goal lists” each semester to share with her loved ones. She was a talented athlete who loved to mentor the children at the Hillsborough Street YMCA where she worked and spent so much time with her three cousins, she called them her sisters.
“She made an impact on everyone that she met, and that impact was beautiful, and it was lovely, and it was funny, and it was full of joy and life,” Petifer said.
‘The world was hers’
Before her life was cut short Nov. 18, the world was Aminah Guy’s oyster, her aunt said. A native of Santa Monica, California, she had moved with her mother and twin sister to North Carolina before starting sixth grade, finally close enough to regularly visit the Petifer cousins in Durham she adored.
The five cousins, dubbed the “five As” because their names all start with the same letter, spent every holiday together and explored the Triangle during “Camp Petifer” summer breaks spent at the Petifer home, her aunt and cousin said. When the Guys moved to Raleigh three years later, it felt like a dream come true.
After graduating from Athens Drive High School, where she participated in volleyball, track, basketball and student government, Guy enrolled at N.C. Central University. It was a fitting next step: Her sister-cousin, Alana Petifer, had gone there and Andrea Petifer, her husband and two other family members were all also Eagles.
“I said this in her obituary, that she lived the motto of NCCU before she even got there: truth and service,” Andrea Petifer said. “So for her to go there was only natural.”
Guy originally majored in information technology but switched to business with the hope of professionally pursuing her passion – designing invitations, logos and flyers for family members and friends. Her skill in graphic design was as impressive as her love of learning in general, her aunt said.
“She read widely, she studied widely, she discovered widely,” Andrea Petifer said. “The world was hers.”
Not long into her freshman year, Guy met fellow freshman 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 few times, but nothing seemed amiss, she said.
That ended Nov. 8. Guy had taken the semester off to regroup, working full-time at the YMCA instead, but Holton was still an active student at NCCU when he crashed into a parked car going 100 mph on Interstate 440 East just before 8 a.m. Both cars caught on fire, and Holton was cited for reckless driving, speeding and failure to maintain lane control, court records show.
According to the Petifers, the crash was a suicide attempt, and the first they’d heard of Holton’s alleged mental health issues. Police haven’t commented on the Nov. 8 crash, and The News & Observer has not been able to reach Holton’s immediate familyl.
“He never demonstrated any threatening or controlling behaviors,” Andrea Petifer said. “However, after the attempted suicide in the car wreck, [Guy] started saying that she noticed he was acting weird.”
Ten days later, Cary police would be called to Holton’s Smokemont Drive home, where they found Guy, Holton and Erica Holton, his mother, inside, all fatally shot.
Police haven’t said who they believe to be the shooter, citing a pending autopsy report, but court records indicate Holton was likely responsible. A loaded firearm was found in the sink next to Holton’s body, which was discovered on a separate floor from his mother’s and Guy’s, according to a search warrant.
Aminah Guy was a student at NCCU and a graduate of Athens Drive High School.
The loss has wrecked Guy’s tightknit family. Making matters worse, Andrea Petifer said, she can’t escape photos in local news coverage of Guy and Holton together.
“My niece is a victim, and out of all the photos that journalists have their hands on, they chose that one,” she said. “Every time I saw it, I just thought about that Zora Neale Hurston quote: ‘They’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.’ That’s what came to me.”
To reduce Guy’s life to the final moments of her life is an insult, Petifer said. She’d rather people know about the craters left in Guy’s wake, of the mother, twin sister, cousins and friends that will forever mourn her.
“When I look at my niece, I see a teenage girl on the cusp of womanhood, just taking those first steps into becoming, and now she can no longer become,” Petifer said. “That’s what’s hard for me.”
A Gofundme account to help pay for Guy’s funeral expenses had raised $17,800 as of Friday evening.
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 for 24/7 support in English and Spanish.
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