Former TikTok star's 911 call after deadly shootings played in court

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) -- Several police officers and first responders testified Tuesday in the trial of former TikTok star Ali Abulaban.

On day four of the trial, they testified about their response to Spire Apartments in San Diego's East Village, where Ali's wife Ana and her friend Rayburn Barron were shot dead on Oct. 21, 2021, and about their arrest of Ali, who was charged with two counts of murder.

For the first time, FOX 5/KUSI heard audio of the 911 call Ali made to report that his wife and "another man" were dead, and saw the officers' body camera videos of the moment they entered the apartment and found the two dead.

Ali’s 911 call

Around 3:10 p.m., after the shooting, Ali called 911. At first he was calm, but throughout the call his voice escalated. On the phone at first, he called Barron "a man" and claimed he didn't know who he was, and later said, "Oh, it's Ray."

He told the dispatcher he had already left the scene. After giving the information and answering a few questions, Ali hung up.

Authorities respond to the shooting, arrest Ali:

Police arrived to the scene a few minutes after Ali called 911.

One angle of the body-worn camera played in court showed officers knocking down the door to Ali and Ana’s apartment and finding the dead bodies of Ana and Barron inside. The police officers said at the time, they didn’t know where the shooter was. They can be seen on video “clearing” the apartment and rendering aid to the victims, both of whom were dead.

Police officers who were at the scene testified that the office of the apartment appeared to be ransacked, and the floor of the kitchen/living room area had flowers scattered on the floor, shell casings and beer cans.

The defense attorney tried to direct the jury’s attention that evidence could have been moved, kicked or altered as officers were entering into the apartment to “clear” the apartment.

Above the couch, officers said they saw a YouTube plaque with a username printed on it. One of the officers said they looked up the username to try and figure out if it was a deceased person on the couch, but it wasn’t. They didn’t realize at the time that it was the shooting suspect.

In the top shelf of a closet in the apartment, officers found a box for a Glock, but didn’t find the gun.

Another officer’s body-worn camera shown in court shows officers staging in the neighbor’s apartment, and other officers interviewing the neighbors about what they saw.

Officer Eric Moreno, who arrived at the scene of the shooting, said dispatchers were able to piece together the address from a prior domestic violence call and identify Ali’s black Jeep and Virginia license plate as a suspect vehicle.

Shortly after, Ali pulled his car over for Officer Jackson Carroll. Carroll said he located Abulaban’s vehicle approximately 10 blocks east and two to three blocks north of the apartment complex, and noticed there was a child inside the vehicle.

Carroll said he got behind Abulaban’s vehicle and followed him for about four to five minutes until Abulaban pulled over near the Interstate 15 and Interstate 805 split. Carroll said his vehicle and another police car behind him were following the Jeep, but didn’t have their lights and sirens on because they were waiting for a K9 unit to respond.

“He pulled over on his own,” said Officer Brendon Johanson, who also responded to the scene.

Carroll said this was considered a high-risk vehicle stop. As Ali pulled his car over, Carroll was behind him. Carroll got out of his patrol car, pulled out his handgun and pointed it toward Ali immediately while giving verbal commands for him to put Ali’s hands out the window and turn the car off.

Johanson’s body-worn camera was shown to the jury in court Tuesday. You can hear Carroll giving Ali commands as he’s walking backward to be arrested.

On the body-worn camera Ali says, “Did they get my wife?”

As his daughter is being taken out of his Jeep, Ali is heard talking to his daughter, saying, “I love you, I love you, OK?” Later he asks, “did the ambulance get my wife?”

Johanson said at this point, they already believed he was the shooter and that he knew his wife was dead.

Carroll said Ali followed the commands and was cooperative while being arrested. Carroll said Ali was concerned about his daughter and asked if they could take her to his mother’s house in Vegas; the same sentiments were heard on the body-worn camera video.

Carroll said he found a black safe in the trunk and that a cell phone in the center console was on a phone call at the time.

Firefighters and paramedics with the City of San Diego were called to the apartment after 3 p.m. that day, after San Diego police cleared the scene and deemed it safe for emergency crews to enter, and were escorted by SDPD to the apartment.

Craig Torline, a firefighter and paramedic, said when he entered the apartment, he saw the two patients motionless and without a pulse. He said he saw “substance” of “brain matter” coming out of their head and on the wall behind them. The two were pronounced dead at 3:31 p.m.

The investigation then began into how the two died and who killed them.

Another officer took the stand Tuesday afternoon and said after reviewing the Nest video camera footage, he could hear Ali on the phone with a woman discussing “cheating.” He said he saw Ali going back and forth from the apartment, and after hearing four gunshots ring out, he heard a woman yelling before more shots were fired, and then seeing Ali leave the apartment and yelling, “Ana.”

Neighbor testimonies

Chandler Haddix, who also lived on the 35^th floor of the Spire apartment complex, testified Tuesday. Haddix had a Nest camera outside his apartment, which captured the audio of the shooting.

While Haddix said he didn’t personally know Ali or Ana, he would see them around the hallway. He said he would sometimes hear yelling or commotion coming from Ana and Ali’s apartment.

He said Oct. 21, 2021, was his day off and he was listening to “loud” Harry Styles music.

Haddix said, “I heard loud banging and what I thought was a scream” the day of the shooting, but kept going on throughout the day. He said at the time, he figured the loud noise was coming from “that couple’s” apartment.

Haddix recalled that after watching his security video from between 9 and 11 a.m. that day, “I saw the defendant pacing the hallway multiple times." He said later that day the footage shows Ali returning to the apartment between 2 and 3 p.m. Then, the Nest video camera system picked up the audio of the gunshots and saw Ali go back and forth between the apartment.

The first witness to take the stand Tuesday was Carolina Prieto, who testified Ana had knocked on their door asking for help. Prieto and her husband, Daniel, lived across the hall from Ana and Ali’s apartment. 

Prieto testified that around 9 p.m. one evening in August or September 2021, she heard Ali, Ana and their child screaming and “things dropping on the floor.” Shortly after, Ana and their young daughter were crying, knocked on their neighbors door and asked them to call 911 and asked for help, and then said, no, nevermind, let me just call my family, and she mentioned that “Ali was beating her,” and had taken her phone.

She said on at least two occasions, she heard Ana and Amira screaming, “stop it.”

Prieto said after Ana had gone to their apartment asking for help, and the next day, she saw Ali leaving the apartment with a suitcase.

On Oct. 21, 2021, Prieto said she was working from home and heard gunshots ring out from Ana and Ali’s apartment in the afternoon. She testified that leading up to the gunshots, she didn’t hear any commotion from their apartment.

After she said she heard approximately six gunshots, she ran to her front door and looked through the peephole.

“It was quiet for a moment and then I see Ali coming from the apartment,” Prieto testified. “I can see the whole door very clearly.”

She testified that she saw Ali leave the apartment, then came back, went inside the apartment, screamed “Ana” three or four times, grabbed something from his doormat and then he left.

Moments after the shooting, Prieto’s husband Daniel was on his way home, and saw Ali in the apartment’s elevator. Around the same time, the police department arrived on the scene and Prieto and her husband gave police what information they had.