The Detroit Free Press on Friday features a take-out story on two survivors of a fatal robbery attempt in September.
Reporter Marisol Bello writes of Fuad Abuali:
Life changed for the young man when he walked into a Westland party store in September to buy a pack of Marlboros and all hell broke loose. Caught in the middle of a botched robbery, Abuali took a bullet to his neck.
Now Abuali makes sure to get home before dusk. He won’t go out after dark. He can only fall asleep at night with a light on.
And still the nightmares won’t go away.
“My mind is not the same,” said Abuali, 29. “It’s like east to west, a 180-degree change. I don’t like to go out. I feel afraid to go out.”
Outwardly, Abuali and Conrad Hasper, the only survivors of the massacre that left four others dead, are healing. So are the owners of Neil’s Party Store. They have reopened the store and are working 12-hour days to attract customers who are still too afraid to shop there.
Inwardly, each is coping with the shootings in his own way. But they share the flashbacks, uncertainties and moments of what if.