A string of deadly attacks in the Atlanta suburbs on Monday killed two women and left a man critically injured, authorities said, and court filings indicate the same suspect is behind the killings. The charged man, Olaolukitan Adon Abel, is accused of killing Prianna Weathers and Lauren Bullis, including a Department of Homeland Security employee, and of critically injuring another victim, according to AP reporting that cited court records and police accounts.
Authorities described the attacks as a sequence across multiple nearby neighborhoods in the early morning hours. DeKalb County Police Chief Gregory Padrick said Weathers, 31, was found with gunshot wounds near a Decatur-area fast food restaurant around 1 a.m. and died after being taken to a hospital. Brookhaven Police Chief Brandon Gurley said about an hour later, around 2 a.m., a 49-year-old homeless man was shot multiple times while sleeping outside a grocery store in Brookhaven, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) northwest of the first attack.
Gurley also said investigators determined the three attacks were connected. Authorities said the injured man’s name had not been released and that he remained hospitalized in stable but critical condition as of Thursday, based on AP reporting. Investigators have also said they believe at least one victim was targeted at random, though police have not provided details about a motive or how the suspect was caught.
The third attack victim was Bullis, a DHS employee who was out walking her dog. AP reported that Bullis, 40, was found around 7 a.m. in Panthersville with gunshot and stab wounds and died at the scene, according to Padrick. AP also said DHS has posted on social media describing her as someone who brought “a genuine sense of care to her colleagues each day.”
In Washington, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin publicly condemned the shootings. Mullin called them “acts of pure evil” and raised questions about whether Adon Abel was granted U.S. citizenship in 2022, when Joe Biden was president, though authorities have not provided details about how the suspect was apprehended.
Court records cited by AP show Adon Abel was charged in Georgia with malice murder, aggravated assault and gun charges related to the Monday attacks. AP reported that his name appears in different variations in court and government records, and that a public defender listed as his attorney did not respond to an email seeking comment.
AP also reported that Adon Abel pleaded guilty in October 2024 to assaulting two police officers with a deadly weapon and attacking another person when he was stationed in Coronado, California, according to California court records. AP said military records show Adon Abel enlisted in the Navy in 2020 and last served in the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron in Coronado, receiving a Navy “E” Ribbon for superior performance for battle readiness. In an account tied to the California case, an attorney named Brandon Naidu, who represented Adon Abel, said he was “gutted” to read about the allegations in Georgia and “heartbroken” in reading about the victims.
Naidu said he reviewed a report prepared ahead of sentencing that did not show any prior criminal record before the California case. Separately, Mullin said Adon Abel has a criminal record that includes a sexual battery conviction, and AP reported that online court records show a person with a similar name and the same birth date pleaded guilty last June in Chatham County, Georgia, to four misdemeanor counts of sexual battery—while it was “not immediately clear” whether that record predated his becoming a U.S. citizen in 2022.
Bullis’s colleagues and family remembered her in statements that emphasized her work and personal qualities. DHS posted on social media that she brought “a genuine sense of care to her colleagues each day,” AP reported. Bullis’s family said she loved running, reading and traveling, and that “her warmth and generosity touched everyone surrounding her,” while fellow DHS auditor Ashley Toillion described Bullis as “the nicest, sweetest, most encouraging person I’ve ever met,” according to AP.
As investigators continue to build their case, officials have not released additional details about how victims were selected or how the suspect was identified. Court proceedings are expected to test the allegations in the charges, including whether authorities’ view that at least one victim was targeted at random remains supported as more evidence comes to light.