Feds: Suspect paid homeless man to buy gun used in DeKalb shootings
Officers investigate a fatal stabbing and shooting on Battle Forest Drive on April 13, 2026. (FOX 5)
ATLANTA - A homeless man is facing federal charges after prosecutors say he was paid to buy the gun used in a random shooting spree that left two women dead in DeKalb County earlier this week.
What we know:
Federal investigators say 35-year-old Damon Marquis Yarns bought the 9mm pistol used in the killings at a Midtown Atlanta gun store on Feb. 20.
Yarns, who had been staying in local shelters, allegedly told agents that 26-year-old Olaolukitan Adon Abel paid for his rideshare to the store and gave him money to buy the weapon.
Olaolukitan Adon Abel is accused in a deadly shooting spree across DeKalb County on April 13, 2026. (Credit: DeKalb County Sheriff's Office)
Yarns admitted he lied on federal forms by claiming he was the actual buyer. Once he handed the gun to Abel, Yarns said he never saw it again.
The backstory:
The shooting spree began around 1 a.m. on Monday, April 13, when Prianna Weathers was shot multiple times outside a Checkers on Wesley Chapel Road.
An hour later, a 49-year-old man was shot multiple times while sleeping outside the Cherokee Plaza Shopping Center in Brookhaven.
The rampage ended around 7 a.m. when DHS employee Lauren Bullis was shot and stabbed while walking her dog on Battle Forest Drive.
Dig deeper:
DeKalb County officers found a loaded 9 mm pistol and five 9mm cartridge casings near Bullis on the ground, prosecutors revealed.
When Abel was arrested by Georgia state troopers in Troup County later that day, officers found a box of 9mm ammunition and shell casings matching the same brand of ammunition found at the murder scene.
Using a National Tracing Center analysis of the firearm, investigators determined that Yarns had purchased the firearm believed to be used in the killings.
Abel, a naturalized citizen originally from the United Kingdom, was already a convicted felon at the time of the shootings.
His record includes a 2025 conviction for assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon in California and multiple counts of sexual battery in Savannah.
Because of these prior crimes, he was legally barred from owning a gun. Abel is currently being held at the DeKalb County Jail on charges including malice murder and aggravated assault.
What's next:
Yarns is now in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service on federal firearms charges. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said the case highlights the tragic consequences of putting guns into the hands of violent felons. Several agencies, including the ATF and DeKalb County Police, are continuing to investigate the timeline of the attacks and whether Abel knew any of his victims.
What we don't know:
A motive for the crimes has not yet been released.
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The Source: The information in this story was gathered from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia and prior FOX 5 reporting.