DHS employee killed while walking her dog in Atlanta shooting spree
The seal of the Department of Homeland Security (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
(ATLANTA) — A Department of Homeland Security employee was “brutally shot and stabbed to death,” Monday, according to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, in a shooting spree across the Atlanta area, in which one other person was killed and a third is in critical condition.
Lauren Bullis was walking her dog on Monday, when she was randomly attacked, allegedly stabbed and shot by Olaolukitan Adon Abel, a 26-year-old born in the United Kingdom who was naturalized in 2022, Mullin said.
“He possesses a prior criminal record that includes convictions for sexual battery, battery against a police officer, obstruction, and assault with a deadly weapon, vandalism and now stands accused of murdering @DHSgov employee Lauren Bullis by shooting and stabbing her while she walked her dog,” Mullin wrote on X.
Mullin said Abel was arrested for reportedly shooting a woman to death outside a restaurant before “randomly shooting a homeless man multiple times” outside a supermarket. ABC affiliate WSB reported that man is in critical condition.
Police said Abel, 26, shot and stabbed Burris about four hours later, according to WSB.
Police raided a home that the suspect rented near where Burris was attacked and arrested Abel, WSB reported, who faces at least six charges, including murder, aggravated assault and possession of a gun as a convicted felon.
Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University student and Palestinian activist, who was arrested by US immigration authorities in mid-April 2025, attends the inauguration ceremony at City Hall in New York, United States, on January 1, 2026. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — For the second time in a little more than a week, attorneys have announced that an immigration court has terminated deportation proceedings against a pro-Palestinian student after Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed they posed a threat to foreign policy.
According to a letter filed in court, attorneys for Mohsen Mahdawi, the Columbia University student who was detained at his naturalization interview in April, a judge has found that the Department of Homeland Security “did not meet its burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence” that he is removable.
It comes after an immigration court terminated removal proceedings against Tufts University Ph.D. student Rümeysa Öztürk. Her attorneys announced the order in a letter to the federal judge overseeing the case challenging her detention on Feb. 9.
For Mahdawi’s case, immigration judge Nina Froes appears to have based her decision on the finding that DHS failed to authenticate a memo allegedly signed by Rubio claiming Mahdawi was a threat to U.S. foreign policy.
Mahdawi’s attorneys have argued that, like other pro-Palestinian demonstrators, organizers and students, he was being targeted for his constitutionally protected speech.
Öztürk, like Mahdawi, was also labeled a foreign policy risk by Rubio in a memo.
Both cases can be appealed by the Trump administration, so their habeas petitions will likely continue to play out in federal court.
“I am grateful to the court for honoring the rule of law and holding the line against the government’s attempts to trample on due process,” Mahdawi said in a statement. “This decision is an important step towards upholding what fear tried to destroy: the right to speak for peace and justice.”
“In a climate where dissent is increasingly met with intimidation and detention, today’s ruling renews hope that due process still applies and that no agency stands above the Constitution,” he added.
In response to a request for comment about both cases, the Department of Homeland Security sent a previous statement about Mahdawi and said: “It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans, and harass Jews, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country. No activist judge, not this one or any other, is going to stop us from doing that.”
Mahdawi was detained in Vermont last spring during his citizenship interview. Arguing that he should continue to be detained, lawyers for the Trump administration pointed to a 2015 FBI investigation, in which a gun shop owner alleged that Mahdawi had claimed to have built machine guns in the West Bank to kill Jews.
However, the FBI closed that investigation and Mahdawi was never charged with any crime, a point a federal judge highlighted when he ordered Mahdawi’s release.
In response to the government’s allegations against him, Mahdawi and his lawyers have firmly refuted allegations that he ever threatened Israelis or those of the Jewish faith. He told ABC News he has been advocating for peace and protesting against the war in Gaza.
“So for them to accuse me of this is not going to work, because I am a person who actually has condemned antisemitism,” Mahdawi said. “And I believe that the fight against antisemitism and the fight to free Palestine go hand in hand, because, as Martin Luther King said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Öztürk was detained in March by masked federal agents, and the arrest was captured on camera. Attorneys representing her said she was targeted, like other high-profile arrests of students, for her Pro-Palestinian views, specifically, for co-authoring an Op-Ed in the student paper in March 2024 calling on the school’s administration to take steps to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide.”
A federal judge ordered her release in May.
“Today, I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that despite the justice system’s flaws, my case may give hope to those who have also been wronged by the U.S. government,” Öztürk said in a statement on Feb. 9. “Though the pain that I and thousands of other women wrongfully imprisoned by ICE have faced cannot be undone, it is heartening to know that some justice can prevail after all.”
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bill signing in the Oval Office of the White House on February 03, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge on Wednesday is set to consider moving President Donald Trump’s conviction in his criminal hush money case in New York to federal court, where Trump could try to overturn it.
Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office will argue before U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein over the immunity the U.S. Supreme Court granted Trump for his official acts.
The Supreme Court decided in July 2024 that presidents are entitled to presumptive immunity for acts taken in their official capacity. Trump’s attorneys have argued that ruling means his Manhattan criminal case belongs in federal court.
Hellerstein has already denied them twice, deciding that falsifying business records before the 2016 election in order to conceal a long-denied affair with Stormy Daniels had nothing to do with the presidency.
After Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts, his attorneys went back to Hellerstein, who was still not convinced, writing that “hush-money payments were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority.”
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Hellerstein to take another look.
New York Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Trump last year to an unconditional discharge without prison, fines or probation. Prosecutors have argued that the “advanced stage” of the case weighs against moving it into federal court.
Trump was found guilty of orchestrating an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election by directing his personal lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen, to pay $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to prevent her from publicly revealing a long-denied sexual encounter with Trump.
Trump is separately pursuing an appeal through the state court system.
Red flag warnings for parts of New York. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — Amid red-flag fire danger alerts issued for parts of New York and a forecast of potential flooding for Hawaii, the weather is expected to cooperate for Friday’s historic Artemis II splashdown off the coast of Southern California.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued red-flag alerts on Thursday for several counties in upstate New York, including much of the Hudson Valley stretching from Albany to Westchester County.
The red-flag alerts are expected to last until at least 6 p.m. ET on Thursday as the NWS is forecasting wind gusts of up to 35 mph and relative humidity as low as 20%.
“Any fire that develops will catch and spread quickly,” the NWS said on Thursday, adding that outdoor burning is not recommended.
Elevated fire danger to a lesser extent is also in place for other parts of the Northeast, including sections of Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island and as far north as Vermont.
Hawaii flood threat
Already this week, the eastern nose of Hawaii’s Big Island has recorded a rainfall accumulation of 10 inches to 13 inches. The eastern edges of Maui have recorded 6 inches to 12 inches of rain this week as well.
The soggy weather is expected to continue through at least Friday. An area of low pressure is developing west of the islands, drawing abundant moisture northward as it strengthens on Thursday and into Friday.
The Hawaiian islands are bracing for potential heavy rain and thunderstorms that could produce flash flooding in some areas. Landslides may also occur in areas with steep terrain.
Widespread rainfall of possibly 2 inches to 4 inches is still expected through Friday across the Hawaiian islands, and some areas could receive 5 to 10 inches of rain.
The excessive rainfall could cause streams to overflow and produce significant flooding and property damage in urban or low-lying spots due to runoff, and could lead to road closures in several areas.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said in a statement on Wednesday that President Donald Trump has approved a major disaster declaration for the state ahead of the upcoming storm, freeing up federal resources to respond to the emergency and help in early recovery efforts.
“The recovery from this storm will be long and difficult and will require constant collaboration with the counties and the federal administration — and I am confident that as with other recent disasters, we will benefit from the aloha we share for each other and our collaborative approach with anyone who can offer assistance,” Green said.
Artemis II splashdown weather
The weather forecast remains good for the scheduled splashdown of the Artemis II Orion crew module, according to NASA.
Tentatively scheduled for 8:07 p.m. ET on Friday, NASA says the splashdown site will likely be within 100 miles of the coast of San Diego, California, where the Navy’s amphibious transport dock ship USS John P. Murtha will lead recovery efforts.
The majority of the weather criteria are in order to have a safe recovery mission by sea and by air. Visibility will likely be within the necessary guidelines for the safe flight of recovery helicopters, especially from 50 to 100 miles off the coast.
Weather criteria that need to be met for a safe splashdown and recovery include wave heights of less than six feet, no precipitation or lightning within 35 miles of the splashdown site and winds under 28 mph, with minimal cloud cover and good visibility, according to NASA.
Severe weather in store for Texas and the Panhandle
A new weather pattern will begin to take shape this weekend as stormy weather begins over west Texas and the panhandle.
Moisture flowing in from the Gulf, dry air coming from the Desert Southwest and warm air from the Southeast mixing with colder air from the North are all converging as low-pressure systems move across the region.
The severe weather will likely stretch into next week and spread to Wisconsin and Michigan, possibly peaking on Monday and Tuesday.
