Homeland Security and Vetting Failures

A former U.S. Navy service member, identified in charging documents as Adon Abel, has been formally charged in a series of linked attacks across Atlanta suburbs that left Department of Homeland Security auditor Lauren Bullis and another woman dead and at least one additional person wounded. Authorities say the attacks occurred in the early hours over multiple locations — a shooting near a Decatur-area restaurant, the fatal shooting and stabbing of Bullis while she was walking her dog in Panthersville, and a separate shooting of a man outside a Brookhaven grocery who remains hospitalized in critical condition. Local prosecutors filed multiple charges after the suspect was arrested; he waived an initial court appearance and is represented by a public defender. Investigators and prosecutors have not established a motive and say the probe is ongoing. Reporting and police filings note Abel's prior criminal history, including guilty pleas in California last year to assaults on police officers with a deadly weapon and a Georgia misdemeanor plea to sexual-battery counts that officials referenced when describing his record.