Just before 1 p.m. on Feb. 2, Khalil Shqair enters his family pizza shop followed by his brothers.

Khalil, the oldest of the group at 17, pushes his siblings around as they laugh at some indecipherable joke. After a few minutes, Khalil has to step away to wash his hands and begin stretching pizza dough.

The afternoon of Super Bowl Sunday has arrived, and Sabatino’s Pizza and Deli is uncharacteristically busy.

Before her son arrived, Julia Shqair was running the register, answering the phone and cooking the pizza. Even customers have noticed her juggling act, but she ignores their comments. Instead, she instructs her sons in Arabic to get to work.

The only person missing from this chaotic scene is the reason it’s happening in the first place. Khalil’s father, Shqair Shqair, was killed during a robbery at the store nearly four months ago to the day. His death has caused Khalil’s mother to overwork herself and Khalil to give up his Sunday afternoon to help her. It’s also partially why he, a senior at Fowler High School, hasn’t applied to college.

Syracuse University — just a 10-minute drive from Sabatino’s — is on his list, and atop his family’s, too. But while some high school seniors will receive acceptance or rejection letters in the next week, Khalil won’t receive anything.

Growing up too fast

Once the police left the store, Khalil became responsible for cleaning up his father’s blood. He is the only family member to see the graphic aftermath.

It had pooled directly behind the register, he said, and left a trail around the corner where the pizza is made, as if Shqair had walked around the store before collapsing. The bullet hole is etched into a lower cabinet, in sight of anyone purchasing a can of soda or a carton of cigarettes.

Julia, Khalil, his 12-year-old brother Mahmoud — they have to stand near it every day.

Early on Oct. 1, Eric Woody entered Sabatino’s at about 1:09 a.m. and demanded money from Shqair. When Shqair tried to negotiate with him, Woody shot Shqair in the chest with a handgun. He then exited the store without taking anything, Syracuse police said.

Woody has since been found, arrested and formally charged with seven counts, including murder in the first degree, according to court documents.

After the robbery, Julia woke Khalil to tell him the news, he said. As the family traveled between the hospital and the store, the chances of his father’s survival diminished with every hour. At about 10 a.m., it was 50-50, Khalil said. By 11:30, his chances had dropped to 10 percent. Not much later, while Khalil was still at the store, he received the call.

Then, he threw the phone.

“I was mad,” he said. “I just kept throwing stuff over everywhere.”

The aftermath has been strange, Khalil said. When they think of their father, it’s like he’s still there. His mother wouldn’t allow him to go back to work for a month, Khalil said, even though he wanted to return before that.

Since then, Khalil has logged much more time at the shop than ever before, he said. When he’s not at school, he’s there, helping his mother and doing just about anything that needs to be done.

Khalil’s busy schedule often strips him of time with friends. For a week in the middle of February, he had no school, but he worked just about every day anyway. His mother said he has stepped up in the store and at home: helping his siblings with homework and going food shopping.

“He’s always giving,” said his uncle Jalal, “never takes.”

Again and again

In the last few months, the store’s history has been riddled with tragedy and frustration. A gun has come through the store’s front doors more than once.

On Dec. 20, after the store closed, it was burglarized. Thieves broke one of the store’s front windows and stole several items. Julia said $2,700 was taken, in addition to a $3,000 cash register and $700 in lottery money.

“If you lose that money, it’s not easy,” she said.

Khalil expressed similar aggravation. “I just thought, ‘How could people actually want to do that after what happened?’”

Just two weeks later, another man entered Sabatino’s with a gun. However, Julia said, the number of customers in the store spooked him and he left.

Since her husband’s passing, Julia has Khalil, her brother Jalal and other family members work the night shifts. While daunting to do so, Khalil said being at the store that late isn’t terrible when he’s with his family.

“But at the same time, you’re going to have to be scared,” he said.

Collegiate dreams

Khalil’s donation of time has left him little to think about college. He said one of the reasons he has yet to apply to SU or any other school is because of his father’s passing — not only the emotional toll but also his hectic schedule as a result.

He said he likes SU — he knows it’s a great school — but he also dreams of leaving home. Considering what his family has gone through, though, that might not be so easy.

“Now there’s nobody to be with them, so I’m going to have to stay close,” Khalil said.

The family likes SU because of that reason: proximity, Jalal said. If he were to attend SU, Khalil said he would want to stay on campus, but even that is too much for his uncle.

“Campus is for partying. You’re not with that stuff,” he tells Khalil.

But it’s not just about partying. Having the oldest child at home makes the family feel safer, Jalal said, and any other school does not afford them that closeness. Khalil needs to be around his four other siblings to tell them about school, to be that role model, Jalal said.

If he attends SU, “at least we know where he’s at,” he said.

Stacey Levin, a school counselor at Fowler, has known Khalil since he was a freshman. She and other school administrators are aware of his situation and are working to create an alternative school schedule to jive with his work one.

While Levin commends Khalil’s bravery and concern for his family, she knows SU is not possible for him at this time.

She said Khalil will likely start at a two-year school, probably Onondaga Community College. He realizes this, she said, and that he should stay close to home.

Another Saturday night

Another month has passed since his father’s death and Khalil is working his second 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. shift of the weekend. He said he’s exhausted, having barely slept in 24 hours.

He walks around the back of the store, sticking a pizza in the oven, constructing a sandwich and placing wings in the fryer.

It’s prime dinner hour, and 3-4 customers are in the store at any given time. Though he is tired, that quickly disappears when his uncle cracks a joke. When he’s with his family, things are a little better.

Tonight, he will sleep, then get up and do it all again tomorrow.

Photos by Chase Gaewski | Managing Editor