A British man is suspected of shooting and killing two women in the US state of Georgia in what officials have described an “act of pure evil”.
Olaolukitan Adon Abel, 26, was arrested in connection with the deaths of two women and the shooting of a man who remains in a critical condition.
Lauren Bullis, an employee of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), was identified as one of the victims.
US homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin said Ms Bullis had been “brutally shot and stabbed to death” in an attack he described as “pure evil”.
Abel received US citizenship in 2022, Mr Mullin added.
He said: “On Monday a DHS employee, Lauren Bullis, was brutally shot and stabbed to death by Olaolukitan Adon Abel, a 26-year-old, born in the United Kingdom, who was naturalised by the Biden administration in 2022.
“He has also been arrested for the murder of an unidentified woman whom he reportedly shot outside a Checkers (a drive-through restaurant), before randomly shooting a homeless man multiple times outside a Kroger (a supermarket) in Brookhaven.
“These acts of pure evil have devastated our department and my prayers are with the families of the victims.”
Police confirmed Abel has been linked to three separate attacks across Georgia on Monday April 13.
At about 1am, the first victim was found with multiple gunshot wounds outside a restaurant in Decatur, Atlanta, DeKalb County Police Chief Gregory Padrick confirmed at a news conference. She later died in hospital.
About an hour later, police responded to calls of a person being shot multiple times in Brookhaven, a suburb about 12 miles away from the first attack.
Brookhaven Police Chief Brandon Gurley said: “What we know now is that this individual was asleep in the area of business and was shot multiple times by the suspect from his vehicle.”
“It is apparent to us that it was a completely random attack on a member of our unhoused community,” he added.
Just before 7am, and more than 10 miles away in the suburb of Panthersville, officers found Ms Bullis with gunshot and stab wounds, Mr Padrick said. She died at the scene.
The Brookhaven Police Department said the suspect was taken into custody in Troup County, south west of Atlanta, following co-ordination with local detectives.
Military records show the defendant enlisted in the US Navy in 2020, last serving in the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron in Coronado, California, and as a petty officer received a Navy E Ribbon for superior performance for battle readiness, according to the AP news agency.
However, he 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.
Additionally, court records seen by AP showed an individual listed with a similar name, and the same birth date, pleaded guilty last June in Chatham County, Georgia, to four misdemeanour counts of sexual battery.
