wrote in a statement<\/a> posted on social media, cataloging a litany of the defendant\u2019s previous alleged crimes but not specifying whether they happened before he was granted citizenship.<\/p>\nCourt records show that Olaolukitan Adon Abel, whose name appears in different variations in court and government records, pleaded guilty in California in October 2024 to assaulting two police officers with a deadly weapon and attacking another person when he was stationed at Naval Base Coronado.<\/p>\n
Authorities have said they believe at least one victim in this week\u2019s shootings was targeted at random, and possibly more.<\/p>\n
A morning of violence<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
About an hour later in Brookhaven, an Atlanta suburb about 12 miles (19 kilometers) northwest of the first attack, a 49-year-old homeless man sleeping outside of a grocery store was shot multiple times, Brookhaven Police Chief Brandon Gurley said. The man, whose name hasn\u2019t been released, remains hospitalized in critical condition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is apparent to us that it was a completely random attack on a member of our unhoused community,\u201d Gurley said.<\/p>\n
Just before 7 a.m. and more than 10 miles (16 kilometers) away in the suburb of Panthersville, officers responding to a call found Bullis with gunshot and stab wounds, Patrick said. She died at the scene. <\/p>\n
Investigators in Brookhaven determined that the three attacks were connected, Gurley said.<\/p>\n
Adon Abel was 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. He waived an initial court appearance Tuesday, and a public defender listed as his attorney did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. <\/p>\n
Toyin Adon Abel Jr., the defendant\u2019s brother, said he did not want to talk about his brother when reached by phone but expressed sympathy for the victims. \u201cI feel terrible for the victims, their families and their connections,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a horrible thing.\u201d <\/p>\n
Remembered for her warmth and compassion<\/p>\n
Bullis served in multiple roles at DHS Office of Inspector General, including as an auditor in the Office of Audits and as a Team Leader in the Office of Innovation, DHS posted on social media, saying she brought \u201cwarmth, kindness, and a genuine sense of care to her colleagues each day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Relatives said in a statement, that she loved her family, running, reading and traveling, and \u201cher warmth and generosity touched everyone surrounding her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fellow DHS auditor Ashley Toillion of Denver said she met Bullis at a work conference last year. The two became fast friends as they bonded over running and quickly made plans to do a race at Walt Disney World.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou couldn\u2019t meet her and not be her friend,\u201d Toillion said, choking back tears. \u201cShe was just the nicest, sweetest, most encouraging person I\u2019ve ever met.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naval service and criminal case in California<\/p>\n
Military records show the defendant enlisted in the Navy in 2020, last serving in the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron in Coronado, California, and as a petty officer received a Navy \u201cE\u201d Ribbon for superior performance for battle readiness.<\/p>\n
But in 2024 he was arrested and charged with assaulting two Coronado police officers and attacking another person. He pleaded guilty, court records show, and he was kicked out of the Navy in September of that year. <\/p>\n
Mullin says suspect had criminal record<\/p>\n
Mullin said Adon Abel has a criminal record that includes a sexual battery conviction. <\/p>\n
Online court records show that someone listed with a similar name and the same birth date pleaded guilty last June in Chatham County, Georgia, to four misdemeanor counts of sexual battery.<\/p>\n
Mullin also 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\u2019t attain citizenship. But the U.S. has long barred people convicted of most violent felonies from becoming citizens, and it wasn\u2019t immediately clear if Adon Abel had a criminal record that predated him becoming a citizen in 2022.<\/p>\n
In response to a request for further details about the case and the defendant\u2019s criminal history, DHS referred The Associated Press to its post about Bullis and her death.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Brumfield reported from Cockeysville, Maryland, and Watson, from San Diego. Associated Press reporters Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, and John Hanna, in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 A man has been charged in a string of attacks near Atlanta that left two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[4528,23,256712,5786,256711,2356,2302,3071,12,9092,793,681,256714,256713,7922,694,3073,3319,256710,4381,118966,3,4382,8638,3770,795,1049,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-586857","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-womens-health","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-ashley-toillion","11":"tag-atlanta","12":"tag-brandon-gurley","13":"tag-california","14":"tag-courts","15":"tag-crime","16":"tag-donald-trump","17":"tag-ga-state-wire","18":"tag-general-news","19":"tag-georgia","20":"tag-georgia-shootings","21":"tag-gregory-padrick","22":"tag-gun-violence","23":"tag-homicide","24":"tag-indictments","25":"tag-joe-biden","26":"tag-lauren-bullis","27":"tag-law-enforcement","28":"tag-markwayne-mullin","29":"tag-news","30":"tag-shootings","31":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","32":"tag-u-s-department-of-homeland-security","33":"tag-u-s-news","34":"tag-united-kingdom","35":"tag-united-states","36":"tag-united-states-of-america","37":"tag-unitedstates","38":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","39":"tag-us","40":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}