A man accused of killing three people in a shooting spree across several Atlanta suburbs died in custody Tuesday, with the Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office saying he was found unresponsive in his jail cell at around 6:48 p.m. and pronounced dead about half an hour later. The death of Olaolukitan Adon Abel, 26, closes one chapter of a case already shaped by armed force, surveillance, and detention, while the official machinery now says it will sort out what happened behind jail walls.
Who Held the Power
Authorities said Adon Abel was suspected of killing 31-year-old Prianna Weathers, 48-year-old Tony Matthews and 40-year-old Lauren Bullis within hours on April 13. He was taken into custody that same day during a traffic stop in Troup County, which borders Alabama, after police said they identified him using surveillance footage and license plate readers. He was charged with two counts of malice murder, aggravated assault and a firearms count, and after Matthews died on April 19, police said they would seek another charge of malice murder.
The sheriff’s office said detention staff tried to save him after he was found unresponsive in his cell. He was pronounced dead about half an hour later. The statement said there was no indication of criminal activity or foul play, and that the official cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner’s office. An internal review has been initiated to examine the circumstances of his death, in accordance with agency policy.
Who Paid the Price
The violence that brought the case into the system hit ordinary people first. Police said Weathers, the first victim, was fatally injured with multiple gunshot wounds near a restaurant in the Decatur area around 1 a.m. on April 13. About an hour later in Brookhaven, Matthews was shot multiple times outside of a grocery store. Hours later, before 7 a.m., Bullis was shot and stabbed while walking her dog in Panthersville, an unincorporated community south of Decatur.
Weathers was described as a mother to a preteen. Matthews was described as a father with a growing family. Bullis was a dedicated DHS employee and “consummate professional,” and her obituary said she was “committed to public service.” Police said Weathers and Bullis died from their injuries shortly after being shot. Matthews was hospitalized for six days until he died on April 19.
Authorities have said they believe at least one of the victims, the man who was wounded, was targeted at random. They said they were still looking into whether the other two victims were also picked randomly.
What the System Calls Order
Adon Abel was a native of the United Kingdom granted US citizenship in 2022. Homeland Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Adon Abel had a criminal record that included a sexual battery conviction, though he did not say which year he was convicted. Online court records show that someone listed as Adon Olaolukitan, who has the same birth date as Adon Abel, pleaded guilty last June in Chatham County, Georgia, to four misdemeanor counts of sexual battery.
Mullin said since President Donald Trump took office, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which DHS oversees, has worked to ensure that people with criminal histories don’t attain citizenship. But the US has long barred people convicted of most violent felonies from becoming citizens, and it wasn’t immediately clear if Adon Abel — or Adon Olaolukitan, if it is the same person — had a criminal record that predated him becoming a citizen in 2022.
The Justice Department said Adon Abel was also facing federal firearms charges in connection to the purchase of a 9 mm handgun allegedly found at the scene where Bullis was killed. Tracing analysis connected the firearm found to Damon Marquis Yarns, a homeless man who allegedly told authorities he purchased a firearm for a man he identified in a photo array as Adon Abel, the Justice Department said. Yarns also faces federal firearms charges.
During a search of Adon Abel’s vehicle, Georgia State Patrol troopers found a box of 9 mm ammunition and shell casings matching the brand of ammunition found at the scene where Bullis was killed, the department added.