Decatur, Georgia — 

To the public, Lauren Bullis was a dedicated employee for the Department of Homeland Security in Georgia – a consummate professional committed to public service.

To her loved ones, the 40-year-old from Decatur was an adventurous explorer who traveled the world and brought joy to friends near and far.

“You couldn’t meet her and not be her friend,” fellow DHS auditor Ashley Toillion told the Associated Press. “She was just the nicest, sweetest, most encouraging person I’ve ever met.”

The pair bonded over running and planned to take part in a race at Walt Disney World.

But on Monday morning, as Bullis was walking her French bulldog Sancho, she was shot and stabbed in Panthersville – an unincorporated community about 15 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta.

Her death came just hours after another woman, 31-year-old Prianna Weathers, was gunned down near a restaurant in Decatur. A third shooting victim, an unhoused man who was attacked outside a grocery store in Brookhaven, survived but was critically injured.

Based on surveillance footage and license plate readers, authorities believe the same man, 26-year-old Olaolukitan Adon Abel of Atlanta, shot all three victims in a rampage that has been highlighted by the Trump administration.

While the motive remains unclear, Bullis’ employment at DHS and Adon Abel’s status as a naturalized citizen has sparked questions – and criticism from the agency about crimes the suspect committed after he became a US citizen.

Bullis was a beloved fixture in her neighborhood – often seen running, walking Sancho or tending to the gorgeous flowers she planted in her yard.

She “embraced the sport of running with great gusto, having run 5ks, 10ks, and half-marathons across the country,” her obituary says. “On visits to loved ones, Lauren always asked for a spare key so she could get her miles in without waking her hosts.”

Just last month, Bullis completed her first marathon in Atlanta.

“She’s very athletic,” neighbor Portia Powell said. “If she ain’t walking the dog, she’s running.”

Powell forged a strong friendship with Bullis in recent years, bonding over their shared love of gardening.

“She’s always, ‘Hey, Miss Portia, how you doing?’… so outgoing and friendly,” Powell said.

Bullis’ death has “impacted the neighborhood tremendously,” Powell said. “I think it would make us all more aware of what’s going on in the neighborhood and look out for each other.”

The tragedy devastated colleagues at the DHS Office of Inspector General, where Bullis was an auditor and a team leader, the agency said.

“Lauren approached her work with integrity, thoughtfulness, and a commitment to excellence that strengthened our organization and the communities we serve,” DHS said. “She brought warmth, kindness, and a genuine sense of care to her colleagues each day.”

Bullis’ husband, stepdaughter, parents and siblings are now united in grief, robbed of their generous, hilarious, globe-trotting beacon of light.

“She put the needs of others before her own, tending many times over the years to sick friends and ones who had merely overindulged. She was enormous fun, a great host, dignified, unpretentious, and riotously funny,” Bullis’ obituary says.

“Lauren loved travel, alone or with others, having visited far-flung locales in Egypt, Peru, Greece, Spain, Ireland, and France, among many, many others,” it read. “She was forever planning her next journey.”

While the string of attacks rattles several communities in Georgia, Prianna Weathers’ mother mourns privately in her North Carolina home.

“This was a senseless death,” she told CNN. “All of these people he killed … these were innocent people. He had no reason to be harming them. They weren’t doing anything to him.”

Weathers was killed in Decatur, not far from where she was born 31 years ago, her mother said.

She asked not to be identified to protect the privacy of Weathers’ 12-year-old son, who she’s suddenly raising and must grow up without his mother.

No clear relationship between the victims and suspect

It’s not clear why the three shooting victims were attacked. Police said the man who was critically injured appeared to be targeted at random, and investigators were looking into whether the two women killed were targeted randomly.

Don Plummer of the Georgia Public Defender Council declined to detail the suspect’s case and background.

“We understand the intense public attention surrounding this case, but Mr. Abel has the same constitutional rights as any other accused person, and our job is to protect those rights in court,” he told CNN.

“This is a tragic and serious case. Nothing about defending constitutional rights minimizes that. In fact, the rule of law matters most when emotions are high and the allegations are the most serious.”

Adon Abel, a native from the United Kingdom, became a naturalized US citizen in 2022, DHS said.

The naturalization process often takes years, and it’s not clear whether the bulk of Adon Abel’s processing took place during the first Trump administration or the Biden administration. DHS did not answer CNN’s question about the suspect’s naturalization timeline.

DHS blamed the previous administration for Adon Abel’s naturalization, describing the suspect as a “monster” on a Facebook post.

The agency also said Adon Abel was convicted of several crimes, including sexual battery and assault with a deadly weapon. Court records show a defendant listed as Adon Olaolukitan pleaded guilty to four counts of misdemeanor sexual battery for a 2025 incident in Georgia – several years after the suspect became an American citizen. He was sentenced to 48 months of probation for those offenses.

Another court filing shows a defendant named “Olaolukitan Adonabel” pleaded guilty to a 2024 felony assault with a deadly weapon “other than a firearm on a Police officer or firefighter” in California. That record notes the suspect’s name may also appear as Olaolukitan Adon Abel or Adon Olaolukitan.

The public defender council lambasted DHS’ characterization of the suspect.

“It is irresponsible and troubling for public officials to label an accused person a ‘monster’ before adjudication,” Plummer said. “That kind of language may be politically convenient, but it is corrosive to due process and to the basic right to a fair trial.”

The records show a few other charges, but those cases were dismissed.

On Monday, Adon Abel was taken into custody during a traffic stop in Georgia’s Troup County, which borders Alabama. He now faces several charges including two counts of malice murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, police said.

CNN’s Sneha Dhandapani, Ryan Young, Jason Morris and Lindsey Knight contributed to this report.