Abel’s death in jail ends the criminal case as prosecutors faced a later phase of charging stemming from last week’s shootings near Atlanta, authorities said. The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday night that the 26-year-old was found unresponsive in his cell, after officials provided medical treatment. He was later pronounced dead, with the sheriff’s office saying the official cause of death had not been determined and that officials did not suspect foul play. The office said it was conducting an internal review. MSI previously reported on the case against Abel, which began with charges tied to the Atlanta-area shootings.
The Sheriff’s Office did not immediately provide details on what led to Abel being unresponsive. In its statement, the office said it did not suspect foul play and that an internal review was under way, while officials waited for determinations on what caused his death.
Abel was facing a series of charges tied to the attack that left three people dead, including a Department of Homeland Security employee who was walking her dog, according to the AP report. Prosecutors had accused Abel of killing Prianna Weathers, 31, and Lauren Bullis, 40, in last week’s shootings. Authorities also had been seeking an additional murder charge for Tony Mathews, 49, who was injured in the attack and died Sunday, AP reported.
Authorities said they had not offered a potential motive for the shootings. AP reported that it was unclear whether Abel knew any of the victims, and that police said they believed at least one person was targeted at random.
Abel was represented by a public defender, and a state council overseeing defenders said Wednesday that his death denied him “the opportunity to contest the charges in court,” according to AP. The statement also said the council regretted that families, friends and colleagues of the victims “may now be left without the fuller answers a public legal process might have provided about how these deaths occurred,” adding that it was a painful and sobering reality for everyone affected.
Court records cited by AP said Abel faced state malice murder, aggravated assault and gun charges over the shootings from last week. AP also reported that he faced a federal charge of illegally possessing the gun as a person previously convicted of a felony, filed Friday.
In commentary about Abel’s background, AP reported that roommates told the Associated Press that shortly before the shootings, Abel got into an intense argument over air conditioning in their home and stormed out. AP reported that he lived with six others in separate units of the home.
AP also reported that Abel was a U.K. native who was granted U.S. citizenship in 2022 while serving in the U.S. Navy and stationed in the San Diego area. The AP report said the attacks drew attention from the Trump administration, including Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who raised concerns about Abel’s citizenship during the Biden administration and cataloged a list of alleged previous crimes. The AP report said it was unclear whether any of those alleged crimes occurred before Abel became a citizen.
Military records cited by AP said Abel enlisted in the Navy in 2020 and last served in the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron in Coronado, California. AP reported that as a petty officer, he received a Navy “E” Ribbon for superior performance for battle readiness.
A federal and state case history also appears in the AP report. AP said Abel pleaded guilty in October 2024 to assaulting two police officers with a deadly weapon and attacking another person while stationed in Coronado. AP also said that in that earlier matter, the attorney who represented him, Brandon Naidu, described him as polite, calm and soft-spoken, and said mental health was “absolutely at the center” of the case. Naidu told AP that, within what he said he could disclose, “Mental health was absolutely at the center of his San Diego case,” and he added that it was fueled by suicidal ideation, which he said he believed stemmed from mental health that Abel was self-treating with substances.