DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Officials said Friday they are charging a homeless man they said was a “straw purchaser” of the handgun used in the DeKalb County shooting spree that killed two women and injured a man.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives traced the weapon back to a Feb. 20 purchase from a gun store in Atlanta, according to documents obtained by Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne.
A straw purchase is when someone buys a gun for another person, often someone who is not legally allowed to own a weapon.
“The defendants allegedly violated federal law to put a firearm in the hands of a convicted felon with tragic consequences,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “I have expressed to DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston that I have full confidence in her office’s ongoing investigation and anticipated prosecution of Monday’s heinous attacks in Brookhaven and Decatur. My office and federal law enforcement agencies will continue to provide any requested support.”
Damon Marquis Yarns has been charged with making a false statement to a federally licensed firearms dealer in connection with the acquisition of a firearm.
He told ATF investigators someone he knew as “Abdul” or “Obie” had gone with him to buy the gun, and it was being kept by him, since Yarns could not have the weapon at homeless shelters.
He identified the man he knew as Olaolukitan Adon Abel, according to the criminal complaint.
Yarns later said Abel paid for a rideshare to go buy the firearm for him. He admitted that he lied by indicating on an ATF form that he was the actual buyer, officials said.
Yarns allegedly gave the gun to Abel and never possessed it again.
Yarns, 35, appeared in federal court Friday and was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending further proceedings. Abel, 26, also faces federal firearms charge and remains incarcerated at the DeKalb County Jail.
Abel is accused of shooting people at three different locations across several hours early Monday.
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DeKalb County investigators said he fatally shot Prianna Weathers outside a Checkers on Wesley Chapel Road around 1 a.m.
They said he continued to travel more than 15 miles to Brookhaven where he shot a man sleeping outside a Kroger. The man, who has not been identified, was hospitalized with critical injuries.
Then police said he traveled to Battle Forrest Drive where he stabbed, shot and killed Lauren Bullis as she walked her dog. Abel had been renting a room at a home in the same neighborhood, investigators said.
He was taken into custody in Troup County later in the day. He faces murder, aggravated assault and other charges.
The Department of Homeland Security said Bullis was an employee of the agency.
A DHS spokesperson said in a statement that Abel was previously convicted for sexual battery, battery on a police officer, obstruction of justice, assault with a deadly weapon and vandalism.
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