Decatur, Georgia– A U.S. Navy veteran accused of killing two people and seriously wounding another in a series of attacks in the Atlanta area walked out of his group home shortly before the shooting after getting into a heated argument over the home’s air conditioning, according to his roommates.
Authorities did not provide a possible motive Monday morning attacks. Among the victims was an auditor for the Department of Homeland Security who was walking her dog near the suspect’s home.
The shooting suspect, Olukitan Adon Abel, a 26-year-old British citizen, is charged in state court in DeKalb County with first-degree murder, aggravated assault and firearms charges. He also faces a federal firearms charge, along with another man accused of purchasing the gun used in the shooting for himself, prosecutors announced Friday.
Adon Abel lived with six others in separate units of a house listed on PadSplit, a platform offering low-cost shared housing. He obtained US citizenship in 2022 while serving in the Navy and stationed in the San Diego area.
Adon Appel and his roommate were yelling at each other late Sunday night about how cold Adon Appel was at the house in Panthersville, a southeastern Atlanta suburb, three roommates told The Associated Press.
“He (kept) the house freezing,” his roommate Angela Britton said Friday. “This isn’t the first time they’ve talked about air conditioning. But this time it was a real big argument.”
Another roommate, Lakeisha McKenzie, said the fight scared her so much that she called her mother before bed and asked her to pray for her and her roommates’ safety, telling her there was a lot of “chaos and tension” in the house.
Mackenzie said she had been afraid of Adon-Appel since he touched her inappropriately last month after asking her on a date. McKenzie said he often knocked on her door late at night, but she never answered. She said she complained to her landlord several times, but no action was taken. PadSplit did not respond to a request for comment about whether it was aware of Adon Abel’s alleged behavior at the home.
After the fight, roommates said Adon Abel packed a large duffel bag and left shortly after midnight Monday.
At about 12:50 a.m., about 5 miles (8 kilometers) away, 31-year-old Brianna Weathers was shot and killed outside a fast food restaurant in the Decatur area, investigators said.
About 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, Brookhaven Police Chief Brandon Gourley said. The man, whose name has not been released, remains hospitalized in stable but critical condition, authorities said Thursday.
Department of Homeland Security worker Lauren Polis, who was walking her dog a few hundred feet from Adon Appel’s home, was found around 7 a.m. with gunshot wounds and stab wounds.
Authorities have linked Adon Abel to the three attacks, although it is unclear whether he knew any of the victims — and police said they believe at least one victim was randomly targeted.
Georgia State Patrol troopers stopped Adon Appel’s car around 11 a.m. Monday in Troup County, near the Georgia-Alabama border. Investigators said they found ammunition and shell casings inside the car that matched those found at the scene of Withers’ killing. Police found gun and shell casings on the ground near Polis, Hertzberg said.
Adon Abel now also faces trial in federal court on a charge of illegal possession of a firearm, officials announced Friday.
He was charged with a firearms violation with a 35-year-old homeless man named Damon Marquez Yarns. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg, the top federal prosecutor for North Georgia, said Yarns admitted to purchasing the gun used in the Adon Appel shooting and falsely stated on a federal form that he was the owner.
Adon Abel is charged with illegal gun possession as a person previously convicted of a felony.
Monday’s crimes prompted Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullen to issue a statement raising concerns that Adon Appel would be granted US citizenship while Joe Biden was president. Mullen has cataloged a series of the defendant’s previous alleged crimes, but it is unclear whether any of them occurred before he became a citizen.
Adon Abel pleaded guilty in October 2024 in San Diego County, California, to charges of assault with a deadly weapon and criminal vandalism in what authorities there said was an attack on two police officers and another person, according to California court records.
Online court records show that a person listed with a similar name and same date of birth pleaded guilty last June in Chatham County, Georgia, to four misdemeanor counts of sexual assault.
Wiarnes is accused of purchasing the 9mm handgun used in the shooting of a federally licensed firearms dealer in Atlanta on February 20. A special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives interviewed Yarns on Thursday, Hertzberg said, and Yarns said he bought the gun for a Nigerian or British man he knew only as “Abdul or Obi,” and then recognized Adon Abel from the photo.
___
Hannah reported from Topeka, Kansas.