SAN DIEGO — WARNING: Some of the details included in this report are graphic in nature.
A San Diego-based comedian with a substantial social media following pleaded not guilty Monday to the Thursday slayings of his recently estranged wife and her friend, prosecutors confirmed.
Ali Nassar Abulaban, 29, was booked into San Diego Central Jail last week on two counts of murder hours after a shooting on the 35th floor of the Spire San Diego luxury apartment complex, KNSD reported.
Abulaban is a TikTok star known as JinnKid, with more than 940,000 followers on the social media platform, where his account features comedy skits and impersonations of the character Tony Montana from the 1983 film “Scarface,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
He also posted frequently on his YouTube channel, where he amassed 170,000 subscribers, KNSD reported.
Deputy District Attorney Taran Brast alleged during the Monday court proceeding that Ali Abulaban killed his wife, 29-year-old Ana Abulaban, and 28-year-old friend Rayburn Barron because he thought his wife was cheating on him, the TV station reported.
Specifically, Brast alleged during Monday’s arraignment that Ali Abulaban installed a listening device on his 5-year-old daughter’s tablet hours before the fatal encounter. When he later heard his wife and another man talking, he went to her home and shot them both to death, the Times reported.
Brast told KNSD that Barron was shot in the neck, cheek and back of the head at close range, while Ana Abulaban was shot once in the forehead.
Brast also told the TV station that Ana Abulaban was in the process of ending the marriage and had asked Ali Abulaban to leave their apartment three days before the shootings.
After the shootings, a neighbor’s Nest camera captured footage of Ali Abulaban leaving the Spire apartment, and Ali Abulaban then picked up his daughter from school while still armed, Brast alleged during Monday’s proceedings.
Brast also stated during the arraignment that Ali Abulaban confessed to committing the murders to both his mother and police and told his daughter that he “hurt Mommy,” KNSD reported.
Ali Abulaban’s attorney did not comment on the allegations during the hearing, the Times reported.
Ali Abulaban was denied bail, and a preliminary hearing has been slated for Jan. 5.