On Monday, a TikTok influencer pleaded not guilty to shooting and killing his newly estranged wife and a man she was seen with at her San Diego high-rise last week.
According to CBS station KFMB-TV, Ali Abulaban went to his estranged wife’s apartment and shot them to death after it was learned that he secretly planted a listening device on his 5-year-old daughter’s iPad, and overheard his wife and another man conversing.
Ana Abulaban, 28, of San Diego, and Rayburn Cadenas Barron, 29, of National City, were the victims, according to police.
According to Deputy District Attorney Taren Brast, Abulaban picked up his daughter from school after the shootings while still armed.
The specifics were revealed at Abulaban’s arraignment in San Diego County Superior Court, where he pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and special-circumstance claims of multiple killings.
Abulaban, 29, is known on TikTok as JinnKid, with over 940,000 followers with Comedy skits and impersonations of Tony Montana from the 1983 film “Scarface” featured on his account.
The courtroom was filled with almost two dozen family members and friends of the two victims. Several of them were in tears as Brast described the killings in the San Diego’s East Village neighborhood last Thursday.
Deputy District Attorney Taren Brast stated that Ali Abulaban confessed to killings and accused his wife of infidelity, while prosecutors believe that Barron was just a friend.
Reports say that Ali had booked a hotel room after Ana Abulaban had asked her husband to leave on Oct.18. Three days later, Ali returned to the apartment and trashed it. Brast said that Ali also installed listening software on his daughter’s iPad.
Abulaban was listening to the app when he heard his wife and another man talking and laughing, according to Brast, and he dashed back to the high-rise. He was seen running out of the elevator to his unit on security camera footage.
He allegedly shot Barron three times before shooting his wife in the head, according to Brast. Abulaban immediately called his mother and confessed.
According to KFMB-TV, Abulaban picked up his daughter from school after fleeing the scene and informed her that he “injured Mommy.” Other family members are now caring for the child.
Ali Abulaban was sentenced to prison without bail by Judge Kimberlee Lagotta. A protective order was also imposed by the judge, requiring him to stay away from his daughter.
