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Murder Suspect Named In Shooting Of Dallas Restaurant Owners

Abey Belette Girma
(credit: Dallas Police Dept.)

DALLAS COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) - Police in Dallas presented a judge with information they say leads to a suspect in the murder of a Dallas couple, shot to death on August 15.

A judge agreed with authorities and issued a capital murder arrest warrant for 37-year-old Abey Belette Girma.

The affidavit for arrest warrant detailed how Girma allegedly killed Yayehyirad Lemma and Yenenesh Abayneh Desta, the owners of a popular Ethiopian restaurant.

The document says Girma killed the couple because he felt they had "disrespected" him.

The couple had just closed the Desta Ethiopian restaurant, on upper Greenville Avenue, when they were met on the front porch of their home and shot to death.

According to the warrant, a co-worker of the suspect contacted a police department and told officers there Girma admitted that he had killed the pair.

The witness said Girma told him he followed the couple to their home, in the 5700 block of Marquita Avenue around Midnight, after they closed Desta Restaurant.

Girma  allegedly first confronted Yayehyirad Lemma and shot the husband and father after Girma said he "continued to disrespect him." The suspect told the witness he then shot Yenenesh Abayneh Desta because she had "also disrespected him."

After confessing the murders Girma allegedly showed the witness the gun he used to kill the couple.

Yayehyirad Lemma, who was 40-years-old, and 31-year-old Yenenesh Desta, had a 18-month-old son.

The day of the murders several Greenville Avenue-area restaurants stayed closed to honor the couple and placed flowers outside the doors of Desta Restaurant.

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