A man accused of killing two people and critically injuring another in a series of attacks in the Atlanta area on Monday morning had, shortly before the shootings, gotten into an intense argument with a roommate over how cold he kept their shared home, according to those who lived with him.
Olaolukitan Adon Abel, 26, is charged with two counts of malice murder, aggravated assault, and firearms counts in state court in DeKalb County, Georgia. He also faces federal firearms charges. Among his victims was Lauren Bullis, an auditor for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The attacks occurred over several hours Monday morning: a 31-year-old woman was shot and killed around 12:50 a.m. outside a fast-food restaurant in Decatur; a 49-year-old homeless man was shot multiple times while sleeping outside a grocery store around 2 a.m.; and Bullis, found with gunshot and stab wounds around 7 a.m. near the suspect’s home, was also killed. The homeless man remained hospitalized in critical condition.
The sequence of attacks, preceded by an escalating dispute in a communal living situation, illustrates warning signs that went unaddressed despite prior complaints to housing management about the suspect’s behavior.
The dispute in the communal home
Three roommates told the Associated Press that Adon Abel and another resident were screaming at each other late Sunday night over the temperature he kept in their shared house. Roommate Angela Britton spoke of the encounter: “He (kept) the house freezing,” she said. “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 argument frightened her enough that she called her mother before bed and asked her to pray for the household, describing “chaos and tension” in the shared living space.
Mckinzie said she had feared Adon Abel since he touched her inappropriately the previous month after asking her on a date. She reported that he frequently knocked on her door late at night, but she never answered. Despite complaining to her landlord multiple times, she said no action was taken.
PadSplit, the platform that listed the home, did not respond to a request for comment about whether it was aware of the alleged behavior.
The sequence of attacks
After the argument, Adon Abel packed a large duffel bag and drove off shortly after midnight Monday morning.
Around 12:50 a.m., approximately 5 miles from the house, 31-year-old Prianna Weathers was fatally shot outside a Decatur-area fast-food restaurant, according to investigators.
Then, 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 northwest of the first attack, according to Brookhaven Police Chief Brandon Gurley. The man, whose name has not been released, remained hospitalized in critical condition as of Thursday.
About 7 a.m., Lauren Bullis, an auditor for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security who was walking her dog a few hundred feet from Adon Abel’s home, was found with gunshot and stab wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities linked Adon Abel to all three attacks, though police said it remained unclear whether he knew any of the victims. Police indicated they believed at least one victim was targeted at random.
The arrest and federal charges
Georgia State Patrol troopers stopped Adon Abel’s car around 11 a.m. Monday in Troup County, near the Georgia-Alabama border. Inside the vehicle, investigators found ammunition and shell casings matching those recovered from the shooting of Weathers. Police found a gun and additional shell casings near Bullis.
Adon Abel, 26, is a United Kingdom native granted U.S. citizenship in 2022 while serving in the Navy in San Diego. He had lived with six others in a PadSplit unit—a platform offering low-cost shared housing.
Court records show Adon Abel pleaded guilty in October 2024 in San Diego County to assault with a deadly weapon and criminal vandalism from an attack on two police officers and another person. Online court records also show someone listed with a similar name and birthdate pleaded guilty in June in Chatham County, Georgia, to four misdemeanor counts of sexual battery.
He is charged in state court in DeKalb County with two counts of malice murder, aggravated assault, and firearms counts, and federally for illegally possessing a firearm as a felon.
The gun came through a straw purchase. Damon Marquis Yarns, 35, a homeless man, purchased the 9 mm pistol on February 20 at a federally licensed Atlanta dealer and falsely declared himself the owner on a federal form. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said Yarns told a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent that Yarns had purchased the gun for a Nigerian or British man he knew only as “Abdul or Obie,” then identified Adon Abel from a photo.
Political response
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin issued a statement raising concerns that Adon Abel was granted U.S. citizenship when Joe Biden was president. Mullin outlined a range of the defendant’s alleged previous crimes, though the timing of some of those incidents relative to his citizenship grant remained unclear.