Suspected murderer Olaolukitan Adon Abel found dead at DeKalb County Jail

DEKALB COUNTY, GA – The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office is reporting the death of Olaolukitan Adon Abel, the suspected gunman who was facing multiple felony charges in connection with the fatal shooting spree that claimed the lives of two women and a homeless man in separate early morning attacks on April 13 in DeKalb County..  

DeKalb County Jail officials said  that Abel was found unresponsive in his cell on today, April 21, at approximately 6:48 p.m. Detention

staff immediately notified medical personnel, and lifesaving measures were initiated. Despite those efforts, Abel was pronounced deceased at the jail at 7:17 p.m., officials stated in a news release. 

 In accordance with agency policy, a standard internal review has been initiated to examine the circumstances surrounding this incident, the Sheriff’s Office said. The official cause of death will be determined by the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office.

“At this time, there is no indication of criminal activity or foul play. Additional details are currently not available,” the Sheriff’s Office stated. 

 Abel was arrested on April 13 in Troup County after fleeing DeKalb County following the attacks early that morning. Multiple law enforcement agencies were working with DeKalb County Police officers to track the car that Abel was driving as investigators connected the succession of attacks. Georgia State Patrol Troopers stopped Abel’s car in Troup County and found a box of 9mm ammunition and shell casings matching the same brand of ammunition found at one of the murder scenes.  Abel was arrested and transferred to DeKalb County where he was booked on numerous felony charges, including malice murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. 

Abel was previously convicted of a felony for Assault of a Police Officer with a Deadly Weapon on Jan. 2, 2025 in the Superior Court of San Diego County, California, and he was sentenced to probation in June 2025 for four counts of misdemeanor sexual battery in the Recorders Court of Chatham County, Georgia.

Authorities identified  the three victims who were killed in DeKalb County as: Priana Weathers, who was fatally shot near a Checkers restaurant on Wesley Chapel Road in Decatur around 1 a.m.; Tony Matthews, who was shot around 2 a.m. as he slept outside the Kroger grocery store in Brookhaven(he died from his injuries on Sunday, April 19); and Lauren Bullis, who was shot and stabbed to death around 6 a.m. as she walked her dog near her home on Battle Forrest Drive in Decatur.  The U.S. Department of Homeland Security  said Bullis was one of its employees. 

Authorities said the three victims and Abel had no connection to one another, calling the attacks random.