(THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS) — Dallas police believe a man wanted on an arrest warrant in connection with the shooting deaths of a couple who owned an Ethiopian restaurant has fled the state.
Police continue to look for Abey Belette Girma who is accused of capital murder.
Yayehyirad “Yared” Lemma, 40, and Yenenesh “Yenni” Desta, 31, shot to death about midnight Wednesday in front of their Lower Greenville home, in Dallas, Texas. The couple was returning home from Desta, the Ethiopian restaurant they operated on Greenville Avenue near Forest Lane.
According to an arrest warrant, Girma approached both of them on the front porch and shot them before running away.
A co-worker of Girma’s told police that Girma told him he had killed the couple because they had “disrespected him.” He said Girma told him that he followed them from their restaurant to their home where he confronted Lemma on the front porch of his home.
“Suspect Girma told witness … that the complainant continued to disrespect him so he shot him,” police records state. “Suspect Girma stated he next shot complainant Yenenesh because she had also disrespected him.”
The co-worker told police that Girma showed him a pistol that he used to kill the couple.
He also told police that Girma intimidated him into driving to Goodland, Kansas, where he was able to escape and call the police.