(WXYZ) — A man is now facing charges in the fatal stabbing of a woman at a Meijer gas station on Hall Road on Sunday evening.
Watch Randy Wimbley's video report:
Sidney Emmanuel Davis Jr., 25, was arraigned on first-degree premeditated murder on Wednesday afternoon at 41A District Court.
Video from the scene at the Meijer gas station:
Police say officers responded to the gas station at 15301 Hall Road around 5 p.m. and found a woman suffering from stab wounds. She was taken to a local hospital, where she died from her injuries, police say.
"There's citizens that were outside using the gas station that observed the start of the assault. It started outside and ended inside," said Assistant Macomb County Prosecuting Attorney Elizabeth Abbo in court. "There was a clerk that was working inside that was also involved in this assault and tried to stop the attack and help the deceased."
According to the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office, the victim was Fatme Davis, the suspect's 23-year-old estranged wife. At the time of the incident, officials say the child of the suspect and the victim was reportedly in Fatme's car at the gas station for a custody exchange.
Davis Jr. allegedly left the scene after the stabbing but was later taken into custody by Macomb County Sheriff's deputies.
Fatme Davis's family is speaking out about the young woman.
"She brought life into every room that she walked into, and with everything that she went through in life, all the tragedies before this, having to grow up in the foster care system, not having parents, not having anybody to lean on. I was her brother. I tried to be the brother and the father in the situation, and she was doing so good in life," says her brother Saif Mahmoud. "There was nothing off limits when it came to taking care of her son; it was everybody right behind her. He is such a beautiful little boy, and my nephew will grow up to remember how beautiful and how much his mother loved him."
The family has started a GoFundMe account to help pay for funeral costs and establish a trust fund for her son.
A not guilty plea was entered on the suspect's behalf at the arraignment on Wednesday. The judge denied bond for Davis Jr.
“The allegations in this case are both shocking and deeply disturbing. A young mother was allegedly killed at the hands of her estranged husband, while their child sat waiting in the car. Our office is committed to pursuing this case to the fullest extent of the law to ensure justice is served," said Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido in a statement.
The next court date for Davis Jr. is October 7 at 1 p.m.; his preliminary exam day is scheduled for October 14 at 1 p.m.
