The name of the man charged with shooting his wife and her friend to death in a San Diego high-rise apartment building last week has been made public by authorities.
At 3:10 p.m. Thursday, police were called to a shooting at an apartment complex in San Diego. On the 35th floor, two individuals with apparent gunshot wounds to their upper bodies were found in the living room of an apartment.
Ana Abulaban, 28, and Rayburn Cardenas Barron, 29, were pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, according to Lt. Andra Brown.
Abulaban was married to Ali Nasser Abulaban, the shooter, and Barron was identified by police as her “companion.” Ali Abulaban was spotted on the highway minutes after the incident in a car with his 5-year-old daughter.
Police announced that he was arrested without incident, then charged in the deaths of his wife and Barron. The youngster was not with her father when the shot was fired, according to police.
JinnKid is a pseudonym adopted by Ali Abulaban, who has over 940,000 followers on TikTok and performs comedy sketches and impersonations. According to his profile on the social media app, he is well-known for comedy routines and imitations.
Abulaban, meanwhile, could be seen shaking and crying hysterically behind glass during his arraignment Monday.
On Oct. 18, the suspect left his home following a domestic violence dispute, according to prosecutors, who added that his wife had obtained a restraining order against him and was seeking a divorce. According to the prosecution, Ali Abulaban had been going inside without his wife’s knowledge and keeping a key to the house. According to his attorneys, he used the device in the weeks leading up to her murder. He installed an app on his daughter’s iPad that enabled him to eavesdrop on conversations in the apartment through his cellphone during that time, they said.
The defendant’s wife, Reem Abulaban, was having an argument with someone inside the apartment through the mobile application on Oct. 21, according to Deputy District Attorney Taren Brast. According to Brast, the gunman drove from a hotel to the apartment complex and took an elevator to the 35th floor before bursting into the flat and opening fire. Ali Abulaban, according to the prosecutor, shot Barron three times at close range, with one bullet striking his neck, one cheek, and the back of his head before aiming the gun at his wife and fatally shooting her in the forehead.
The families of the slain men were heard screaming in the courtroom as Brast addressed them.
During the week that Roberta disappeared, police acknowledged confusing her with Brian.
“The defendant fled the apartment,” Brast added. “Neighbors had heard the gunshots and seen the defendant leave the apartment. Then he phoned his mother to confess to killing his wife.”
According to Brast, security footage from the apartment complex shows the defendant at the apartment, and he allegedly admitted to murder to cops.
“The defendant then fled the premises, picked up his daughter from school, still had the loaded gun in his vehicle, and informed his child that he ‘hurt mommy,’” Brast said. “He was soon arrested by the police after telling his kid that he “hurt” her.
Ali Abulaban was denied bail by the court on the grounds that he is a flight risk and might be a danger to society. A protective order was also obtained to prevent him from having any contact with his family, including his daughter, who is temporarily staying with a relative.
Ali Abulaban faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.
It is still under investigation, according to Brown.
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