A 21-year-old man accused in a pair of gang-related killings committed over the past year in the Emerald Hills neighborhood pleaded not guilty Friday to double murder and other charges.
Kenneth Earl Brooks is charged in last year’s slaying of 28-year-old Arif Abdalla and this year’s killing of 44-year-old Tamara Shellum, both of whom were gunned down.
Abdalla was shot near the 5200 block of Lenox Drive on the evening of May 31, 2020, and died of his injuries a week later, SDPD Lt. Andra Brown said. A second man suffered non- life-threatening injuries in the firearm assault.
Shellum was found dead shortly before 10:30 a.m. May 9 in a parked car with bullet holes in its windshield on Bethune Court, alongside Emerald Hills Park. The criminal complaint filed against Brooks indicates the killing was committed the previous day.
Brooks was arrested last week, and remains held without bail.
In addition to the murder counts, he faces charges of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, discharging a firearm in a grossly negligent manner, shooting at an inhabited dwelling, assault with a semi- automatic firearm and unlawfully carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle while in a public place.
–City News Service
