A 64-year-old Lilburn man has pleaded guilty to gunning down his ex-wife's sister and wounding her brother inside a local convenience store, bringing a years-long criminal case to a close with a sentence of life in prison plus 25 years without the possibility of parole. Teodros Shibeshi admitted to malice murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and two counts of aggravated assault stemming from the April 27, 2024 shooting.
According to the Atlanta News First, Shibeshi went to a Lilburn store where his ex-wife's siblings were working when a fight broke out between them. Prosecutors say Shibeshi shot 57-year-old Tigist Lulesgud several times, killing her, and also shot her 65-year-old brother, who survived. Shibeshi then turned the gun on himself but survived the self-inflicted wound.
The shooting took place at Tana Food Mart, an Ethiopian convenience store at 4485 Lawrenceville Highway owned by Luleseged, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The store served the local Ethiopian-American community in Gwinnett County. Lilburn Police Captain Scott Bennett said at the time that the shooting marked the city of Lilburn's first homicide of 2024, a notable statistic for a suburban municipality with historically low homicide rates.
Victim Identities and Family Ties Clarified
In the hours after the shooting, early reports contained conflicting details about the people involved. FOX 5 Atlanta later identified the surviving male victim as 62-year-old store employee Yeshetela Abebe, who was shot in the leg, clarifying initial misstatements that had described him as the victim's current husband.
Police also revised their understanding of the relationship between Shibeshi and the victims. The same report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution states that family members confirmed to investigators Shibeshi was Luleseged's former brother-in-law rather than her ex-husband, as initial reports had suggested — a distinction that helped establish the domestic dispute at the center of the case.
Shibeshi was treated in critical condition for the self-inflicted head wound at Northside Hospital Gwinnett, where he remained under police guard before his release into custody on April 30, 2024, and subsequent booking into the Gwinnett County Jail, per the AJC's reporting.
Guilty Plea and Sentencing
The Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office said Shibeshi pleaded guilty to shooting two of his ex-wife's siblings, killing one, and was sentenced to life in prison plus 25 years without parole. District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said, “We hope this outcome can bring justice to Ms. Lulesegud's family.”
The sentencing structure reflects Georgia's statutory framework for violent crime. Under Georgia Code § 16-5-1, malice murder requires proof of an unlawful killing with malice aforethought and carries mandatory penalties of life imprisonment, life without parole, or death, according to Justia Law. Separately, Georgia Code § 16-11-106 mandates that possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony carries an additional 5-year prison term that must run consecutively — explaining the 25-year add-on alongside Shibeshi's life sentence.
Pattern of Tough Sentences in Gwinnett
Austin-Gatson, elected in 2020 as the first woman of color to serve as District Attorney for the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit, has overseen a string of maximum sentences in fatal shooting cases across the county. In September 2024, her office secured a malice murder conviction and life sentence against Tyree Simmons for a 2022 fatal shooting also in Lilburn.
Another fatal shooting near a Lilburn commercial strip on Stone Mountain Highway in October 2024 resulted in a Gwinnett County jury conviction and life sentence without parole in February 2026, according to Crime Solvers Central. Together, the cases reflect a consistent pattern of Gwinnett County courts enforcing strict life sentences for homicide convictions in and around Lilburn's commercial corridors.
