On Mother’s Day, Sunday afternoon May 13, 2018, 34-year-old truck driver Derek L. Roberts stopped at a Citgo on West McNichols Road in Detroit to buy cigarettes. Surveillance video and audio show an argument between Roberts and the clerk, 26-year-old Rami Ali Jaber, during which Jaber left the secured area behind the bulletproof glass, sprayed Roberts with dog repellent, then shot him in the chest. Roberts was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead.

Jaber was arrested and initially charged with first-degree murder and felony firearm violations. At trial the store surveillance footage was introduced; in September 2019 a Wayne County jury convicted Jaber of second-degree murder and the felony firearm charge. At sentencing in December 2019 the judge noted Jaber showed no remorse and sentenced him to 35 to 50 years in prison. Roberts’ family and members of the community held rallies afterward; his brother described him as a good man who did not deserve this fate.