DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The last surviving victim in the deadly triple shooting spree across DeKalb County has died.
Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes spoke to relatives of the woman killed outside Checkers and relatives of the man killed outside Kroger in Brookhaven.
“All our families deserve justice,” said Martinez Weathers, father of the 31-year-old Prianna Weathers.
Police said Prianna Weathers was the first victim when suspect Olaolukatin Abel shot around 1 a.m. outside a Checkers restaurant along Wesley Chapel Road.
The father told Fernandes that his daughter had recently battled some life issues.
“Nobody knows what nobody is going to do when they wake up in the morning. I just look at it like God took my child and took her to a better place,” Martinez Weathers said.
An hour later, police said Abel drove to a Brookhaven shopping plaza and shot Tony E. Matthews as he slept on the ground outside Kroger.
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His siblings, Leah Parks and Steven Terry, saw the shooting spree reported on the news for days before police told them their brother, Tony, was in the hospital.
Matthews died over the weekend.
“We really can’t deal. We’re just numb to this right now. We want to know how could someone be that cruel to do something like that?” the two said.
Fernandes also spoke with the husband of the third victim, Lauren Bullis. He told her that he is not ready to talk yet about his wife, who worked for the Department of Homeland Security.
Abel was living in this country legally as a naturalized citizen. However, many are questioning how someone with Abel’s criminal record could live in shared housing that’s supposed to do background checks.
PadSplit manages the home on Battle Forrest Drive and said Abel was never registered to live there through them.
PadSplit sent Fernandes a statement, saying:
“The individual arrested in connection with these crimes, Olaolukitan Adon Abel, was never an authorized PadSplit member. There is no record of this individual ever applying to be a PadSplit member, and the company has no past or present relationship with him. After learning about these incidents, PadSplit discovered that the property owner worked with a nonprofit providing housing for homeless veterans to place this individual in the home without informing PadSplit.
“PadSplit requires that everyone living in a home listed on our marketplace completes our process for a background check and identity verification. If the owner had disclosed the presence of this individual, we would have required that he complete our background check and identity screening. We go above and beyond other rental and apartment listings by using biometric facial recognition, which is matched to a government-issued identification to confirm an applicant’s identity prior to moving in. We automatically disqualify any applicant who has a felony conviction within the past seven years, so had this individual applied through PadSplit, his application would have been denied. Finally, every PadSplit applicant must have legal U.S. citizenship or an authorized visa in order to qualify.
“PadSplit customer service was never contacted by any of the residents in this home pertaining to this individual. Had a member voiced concerns regarding their personal safety, we would have instructed them to immediately contact law enforcement and provided a free transfer to another home.
“After learning about this incident from media reports, all members in the home were offered a transfer to another listing.
“PadSplit is heartbroken alongside our entire community for these victims and their families, and we are willing to cooperate with law enforcement in any way.”
Matthews’ family has set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for funeral expenses.