Michael Rapino, chief executive officer and president of Live Nation Entertainment Inc., arrives at Manhattan Federal court, Thursday, March 19, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

2026-04-15T18:24:04Z

ATLANTA (AP) — An Atlanta man has been charged in a string of attacks over a matter of hours that left two women dead and a man in critical condition, drawing the Trump administration’s attention after one of the victims was identified as a Department of Homeland Security employee who was walking her dog.

The killing of the DHS worker, Lauren Bullis, and shootings of the two other victims on Monday led Homeland Secretary Markwayne Mullin to issue a statement raising concerns that the 26-year-old defendant, U.K.-native Olaolukitan Adon Abel, was granted U.S. citizenship in 2022, when Democrat Joe Biden was president.

“These acts of pure evil have devastated our Department and my prayers are with the families of the victims,” Mullin wrote in a statement posted on social media, cataloging a litany of the defendant’s previous alleged crimes but not specifying whether they happened before he was granted citizenship.

Authorities have said they believe at least one of the victims, the man who was wounded, was targeted at random. They said they were still looking into whether the other two victims were also picked randomly.

The first victim was found with multiple gunshot wounds near a restaurant in the Decatur area at around 1 a.m. Monday. She was taken to a hospital but died, DeKalb County Police Chief Gregory Padrick said at a news conference. Police have not publicly identified her.

About an hour later in Brookhaven, another Atlanta suburb about 12 miles (19 kilometers) northwest of the first attack, a 49-year-old homeless man who was sleeping outside of a grocery store was shot multiple times, Brookhaven Police Chief Brandon Gurley said. The man, whose name hasn’t been released, remains hospitalized in critical condition.

“It is apparent to us that it was a completely random attack on a member of our unhoused community,” Gurley said.

Just before 7 a.m. and more than 10 miles (16 kilometers) away in the suburb of Panthersville, officers responding to a call found a woman with gunshot and stab wounds, Patrick said. She died at the scene. Investigators in Brookhaven determined that the three attacks were connected, Gurley said.

Adon Abel was later taken into custody later Monday during a traffic stop in Troup County, which borders Alabama. He is charged with two counts of malice murder, aggravated assault and firearms counts, court records show.

Adon Abel waived an initial court appearance on Tuesday. Court records don’t list an attorney who might speak on his behalf.

Mullin, who took over DHS last month after Kristi Noem was fired, said in his statement that Adon Abel has a criminal record that includes a sexual battery conviction, though he didn’t say which year he was convicted. Online court records show that someone listed as Adon Olaolukitan, who has the same birth date as Adon Abel, pleaded guilty last June in Chatham County, Georgia, to four counts of sexual battery, a misdemeanor.

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In his statement, Mullin noted that since President Donald Trump took office, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which DHS oversees, has worked to ensure that people with criminal histories don’t attain citizenship. But the U.S. has long barred people convicted of most violent felonies from becoming citizens, and it wasn’t immediately clear if Adon Abel — or Adon Olaolukitan, if it’s the same person — had a criminal record that predated him becoming a citizen in 2022.

DHS didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking further details.

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Brumfield reported from Cockeysville, Maryland.

R.J. RICO Rico is a U.S. Desk editor and reporter based in Atlanta for The Associated Press. He has covered housing, immigration and activism in the South. twitter mailto