Police hunt for 19-year-old in slaying of store's owner

By JOE HUMPHREY

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 6, 2000

TAMPA -- Seema Akhtar sat on her leather sofa Wednesday evening, waiting for her husband to walk through the door.

Her three young children sat in the next room, playing on a computer, unawaretheir father had died Monday morning.

Ms. Akhtar is having trouble accepting the fact that her husband, Muhammad Naeem Akhtar, was shot to death in his Ybor City convenience store. She can't bring herself to tell the children, who think their father is in the hospital.

"He should be back any minute," she said, pointing toward the door of her Brandon apartment. "I'm still waiting for him."

A few hours earlier, Tampa police detectives released a photograph of 19-year-old Derek T. Holmes, suspected of robbing and shooting Akhtar.

Holmes is shown in the photograph with dreadlocks, but Sgt. Joan Dias said he cut his hair after Monday's shooting. "He's changed appearances," she said.

Authorities are hoping someone will recognize Holmes, who has a history of drug arrests, no permanent address and goes by the nickname "O.D."

Monday, police said they had the name of a 15-year-old suspect. They searched briefly for another youth before evidence pointed to Holmes.

Police said he entered the Columbus Food Store at 1312 Columbus Drive about 11 a.m. Monday and demanded cash from Akhtar, who bought the store 18 months ago.

After a struggle, police said, Akhtar was shot in the temple.

Mrs. Akhtar does not know what she'll do with the store. She and her husband moved to Florida nearly seven years ago to escape political strife in Pakistan.

They married Aug. 1, 1993, and left for the United States the next day. Friends told them to choose Florida over Chicago or New York because it would be safer. They spent more than six years on the Space Coast before moving to Tampa last year.

The family was preparing to celebrate a birthday. Daughter Hurara Khan turns 6 next week, and Akhtar had already bought her a present. In August, son Zeerak Khan turns 4 and daughter Kubra Khan celebrates her second birthday.

Now, Akhtar doesn't know how she'll survive. Some relief came in hearing police have a suspect. "The bad guy deserves something," she said. "He should get what he did."

Police are asking anyone with information about Holmes to call (813) 273-0770.

-- Contact Joe Humphrey at (813) 226-3403 or humphrey@sptimes.com.

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