Blessed Alifi Zola, 21, was shot and killed in the early evening of July 7, 2025, outside the Maison Blanche apartment complex in south Abilene. Officers were dispatched about 5:30 p.m. to the area near South 27th Street, Sayles Boulevard and the 2800 block of Highland Avenue after multiple 911 callers reported gunfire. Responding officers found Zola lying in the roadway with at least one gunshot wound; he died at the scene.

Witnesses described a chaotic scene as the shooting unfolded, and one caller reported seeing a woman striking an orange car with a hammer during the commotion. Investigators canvassed nearby apartments and identified a suspect who had left before officers arrived and were pursuing that lead. Within days authorities named 31-year-old Christopher Whittington as the primary suspect; he later turned himself in to Irving Police and was taken into custody on a murder warrant. A Taylor County grand jury indicted Whittington on a murder charge related to Zola’s death.

Anyone with information about what happened outside the Maison Blanche apartments that evening is asked to come forward.