Man charged in DeKalb shooting spree dies in jail, sheriff’s office says
Just eight days after he was booked into the DeKalb County Jail, a man accused in a deadly shooting spree was found unresponsive in his cell.
Olaolukitan Adon Abel, 26, died Tuesday evening while in custody, the sheriff’s office said in a late-night statement.
Abel was linked to the deaths of two women and one man after a violent series of attacks across three DeKalb sites in the early morning hours of April 13.
After his arrest in Troup County later that day, Abel was booked into the DeKalb jail. His attorney, a public defender, had filed a motion for bond, for which a hearing was scheduled in the coming days.
Instead, Abel’s death Tuesday upended the case.
“Mr. Abel’s reported death in custody is a tragic development. It denies him the opportunity to contest the charges in court, and it also leaves the families, friends, and colleagues of the victims without the fuller answers that a public legal process might have provided. This is a painful outcome for everyone touched by this case,” Georgia Public Defender Council spokesperson, Don Plummer, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Detention workers “immediately notified medical personnel” after Abel was found just before 7 p.m., according to the sheriff’s office. He was pronounced dead about a half-hour later despite lifesaving efforts.
The agency did not say how he died — the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office said early Wednesday it will investigate the cause and manner. But the sheriff’s office said “there is no indication of criminal activity or foul play.” An internal review, as is standard in such incidents, is underway.
Abel initially faced two counts of murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime.
The two women Abel is accused of killing have been identified as 40-year-old Lauren Bullis, who was a U.S. Department of Homeland Security auditor, and 31-year-old Prianna Weathers.
A third victim, a homeless man identified as 48-year-old Tony Matthews, who officials previously said was shot in a random attack as he slept in front of a Brookhaven grocery store, died from his injuries Sunday. Court records show a third added murder charge.
On Friday, officials announced Abel also would face a federal firearm charge for the handgun police found at the final shooting scene. Officials said he paid a different homeless man to purchase the gun.
Abel served in the U.S. Navy from 2020 to 2024. He was born in the United Kingdom and became a U.S. naturalized citizen in 2022, according to federal officials.
Abel has prior convictions in Savannah and California, but those came after he became a citizen, court documents show.
He pleaded guilty in June to four sexual battery counts, all misdemeanors, after multiple women in Savannah reported being groped on the same afternoon, according to records. He was subsequently sentenced to probation, banned from entering Savannah for four years and ordered to obtain a psychosexual social evaluation, documents show.
In October 2024, Abel was convicted in California. According to court records out of San Diego County, he pleaded guilty to felony assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm on a police officer or firefighter and felony vandalism. He was sentenced to probation.
— Staff writer Caroline Silva contributed to this story.
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