A US Navy veteran accused of killing two people and injuring a third in a series of attacks in the Atlanta area had stormed out of his shared home after a heated argument over the air conditioning, according to his roommates.
Olaolukitan Adon Abel, 26, a UK native who became a US citizen in 2022, is charged with two counts of malice murder, aggravated assault and firearms offences in DeKalb County. He also faces a federal firearms charge, along with another man accused of buying the gun used in the shootings.
Three roommates told the Associated Press that Abel and a male roommate were screaming at each other late Sunday night over how cold Abel kept the house in Panthersville, a suburb southeast of Atlanta. “He kept the house freezing,” said roommate Angela Britton. “It’s not the first time they got into it about the AC. But that time was a real big argument.”
Another roommate, Lakisha Mckinzie, said the fight scared her so much that she called her mother and asked her to pray for her safety, citing “chaos and tension” in the home. Mckinzie also claimed Abel had inappropriately touched her last month after asking her on a date, and that she had complained to her landlord multiple times without action.
After the argument, roommates said Abel packed a duffel bag and drove off shortly after midnight Monday. Around 12:50 a.m., Prianna Weathers, 31, was fatally shot outside a fast-food restaurant in Decatur. About 2 a.m., a 49-year-old homeless man was shot multiple times while sleeping outside a grocery store in Brookhaven. Later, at around 7 a.m., Department of Homeland Security auditor Lauren Bullis was found with gunshot and stab wounds near Abel’s home.
Abel was arrested later Monday near the Georgia-Alabama border. Police found ammunition and shell casings matching those at the scene of Weathers’ killing. Abel is also charged federally with illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, along with Damon Marquis Yarns, 35, who allegedly bought the gun for him.
