SAN DIEGO —
A TikTok personality accused of fatally shooting his estranged wife and another man in October at an East Village high-rise apartment building appeared in court Friday for a hearing to determine whether he will stand trial on murder charges.
Ali Nasser Abulaban, 29, is charged in the Oct. 21 shooting deaths of 28-year-old Ana Abulaban and 29-year-old Rayburn Cardenas Barron at the Spire San Diego luxury high-rise apartment complex on Island Avenue.
Abulaban is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, allegations of using a handgun in the slayings and a special-circumstance allegation of committing multiple murders, meaning he could face the death penalty if convicted and prosecutors choose to pursue capital punishment.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The defendant was a TikTok star known as JinnKid, with more than 940,000 followers on the social media app. His account featured comedy skits and impersonations, mostly of the character Tony Montana from the 1983 film Scarface. His videos occasionally featured his wife, who had a small following of her own.
Abulaban’s preliminary hearing, which is estimated to last two days, will resume Monday with further testimony at the downtown San Diego courthouse.
San Diego police Detective Sgt. Christopher Leahy testified Friday that Abulaban called police around 3:10 p.m. on the day of the shooting, telling a dispatcher that he arrived at the 35th floor apartment and found both victims dead in the living room.
When the dispatcher asked him to remain at the scene, Abulaban “said he had to go” and ended the call, Leahy testified. Police say Abulaban then picked up the couple’s 5-year-old daughter, who was in the vehicle with him when police stopped him that day on state Route 15 near Interstate 805.
At Abulaban’s arraignment, Deputy District Attorney Taren Brast said Ana Abulaban was attempting to leave the marriage, in part due to a prior domestic violence incident in which her husband pushed her.
Leahy testified that nine prior calls for service were made to the couple’s apartment between July and the day of the slayings. Abulaban was not arrested in connection with any of the previous incidents.
Prosecutors say Ana Abulaban asked her husband to move out of their apartment, but according to testimony, he secretly made a copy of the apartment key.
He allegedly later told investigators that while his wife was away on the morning of Oct. 21, he used the copied key to enter the apartment. He then vandalized the unit and installed an app on his daughter’s iPad that allowed him to monitor live audio inside the apartment.
While listening to the app later that day, he overheard his wife and a man “giggling,” Leahy testified, then drove to the complex from a Mission Bay hotel where he was staying.
According to Leahy, Abulaban told police that upon entering the apartment, he saw Barron and his wife sitting on the couch, and Barron had his arm around the wife. Abulaban said he shot both victims shortly after entering the unit, Leahy testified.
Brast said during the arraignment that when Abulaban confessed to detectives, he accused his wife of cheating, although the prosecutor said she believes Barron was a friend.
After allegedly fleeing the scene, Abulaban picked his daughter up from her school and at some point told her that he “hurt Mommy,” Brast said at the arraignment.
Along with what he allegedly told detectives, prosecutors say he confessed to committing the shooting to his mother in a phone call. Abulaban remains in custody without bail.
Source: This post first appeared on sandiegouniontribune.com
