Atlanta suburbs attacks kill two, leave one man critically injured

Three attacks in Decatur, Brookhaven and Panthersville unfolded over a few hours and left two women dead and one man critically injured, with police linking all three scenes to one suspect. The violence moved fast across the Atlanta suburbs, striking a 31-year-old woman near a fast-food restaurant, a homeless man sleeping outside a grocery store and a 40-year-old Department of Homeland Security employee walking her dog.

Prianna Weathers, 31, was found with gunshot wounds near a fast-food restaurant around 1 a.m. in Decatur. She was taken to a hospital, where she died. About an hour later, a homeless man was shot multiple times in Brookhaven while he slept outside the Peachtree Road Kroger. One report identified him as Tony Matthews, 48. He survived but remained hospitalized in critical condition.

Later that morning in Panthersville, Lauren Bullis was found with gunshot and stab wounds while walking her dog. She died at the scene. Bullis, 40, worked for the Department of Homeland Security, which pushed the case into the national spotlight and drew a blunt response from Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who called the shootings “acts of pure evil” and questioned Olaolukitan Adon Abel’s U.S. citizenship, which was granted in 2022.

Investigators have charged Abel, 26, in connection with the killings and shooting. Abel is a U.K.-native who came to the United States from Britain and served in the U.S. Navy, and court records show his name appears in different variations across government and legal documents. Those same records show he pleaded guilty in California in October 2024 to assaulting two police officers with a deadly weapon and attacking another person while stationed at Naval Base Coronado.

Police have said the three attacks were connected, and at least one victim may have been targeted at random. That detail has sharpened the fear around the case, because the victims were scattered across three communities and appear to have been hit during ordinary moments of daily life, one near a restaurant, one asleep outside a store and one out on a morning walk.

Bullis’s family said she loved running, reading and traveling and remembered her warmth and generosity. A DHS colleague described her as the nicest, sweetest, most encouraging person she had ever met. Separate reporting says Abel is now facing federal firearms charges, and another man is accused of supplying the gun, adding another layer to a case that already spans multiple crime scenes, multiple victims and a fast-moving trail of violence across metro Atlanta.