The 26-year-old Navy veteran who was charged with killing three people in a still unexplained shooting spree across several Atlanta suburbs last week was found dead in his jail cell on Tuesday night.
The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office said the man, Olaolukitan Adon Abel, was found unresponsive at about 6:48 p.m. at the jail, just east of Atlanta. Guards called for medical help, but rescuers could not revive him.
Officials said there was “no indication of criminal activity or foul play.” His cause of death will be determined by the county’s medical examiner.
Mr. Adon Abel had been charged with three counts of murder after he had carried out what the police said was a “random” spree of violence across suburban Atlanta on the morning of April 13.
The authorities said he had killed a woman inside a fast-food restaurant near Decatur, Ga., shortly before 1 a.m., and then shot a 49-year-old homeless man about an hour later outside a grocery store in Brookhaven, Ga., another suburb. Hours later, he shot and stabbed a woman in Panthersville, Ga., the police said.
The last woman who was attacked, Lauren Bullis, had been walking her dog when she was killed, according to the Homeland Security Department, her employer. The agency said Ms. Bullis had worked in its inspector general’s office, including as an auditor.
Mr. Adon Abel was arrested in Troup County, Ga., southwest of Atlanta along the Alabama border.
Mr. Adon Abel enlisted in the Navy in November 2020, according to military records, but had more recently run afoul of the law. In 2024, he pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer or firefighter in San Diego, and in April 2025, he pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor counts of sexual battery in Chatham County, Ga., about a four-hour drive southeast of Atlanta.
The Homeland Security Department has used the case to criticize the Biden administration, noting that Mr. Adon Abel’s naturalization took place in 2022. The department did not immediately respond to an inquiry on Wednesday about when Mr. Adon Abel, who was born in Britain, had entered the United States.
The Georgia Public Defender Council, which was representing Mr. Adon Abel in the latest case, said in a statement that his death was a “tragic development” that denied him “the opportunity to contest the charges” against him.
The group said that his death also meant that the victims’ families could be left without the answers that a trial might have provided.
Rick Rojas and Pooja Salhotra contributed reporting.
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reports for The Times on national stories across the United States with a focus on criminal justice.
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