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ATLANTA >> A suspect has been arrested and charged in the deaths of two homeless men shot as they slept on the streets of Atlanta and the separate slaying of a female hairstylist in the nearby city of Decatur, police said Friday.
Aeman Lovel Presley has been arrested on two counts of murder for the Nov. 23 death of Dorian Jenkins and the Nov. 26 death of Tommy Mims, Atlanta Police Sgt. Greg Lyon said. Jail records do not list an attorney for Presley.
Decatur Police Sgt. Jennifer Ross said later Friday that Presley, 34, also faces a murder charge in the Dec. 6 death of Karen Pearce.
Pearce, 44, worked as a hairstylist, and police have said she was shot on a Saturday night after leaving a restaurant in downtown Decatur. Jenkins, 42, and Mims, 68, both were homeless and shot multiple times while wrapped in blankets and sleeping on the sidewalk, authorities have said.
Presley was arrested at a rail station Thursday morning after an officer saw him pass through entry gates without paying a fare, Lyle Harris, chief spokesman for the Atlanta-area transit agency MARTA, said in a written statement Friday. He was carrying a loaded revolver and a box of ammunition, Harris said.
All three agencies declined to release further details on the arrest because of the ongoing investigation.
Atlanta police asked the public and law enforcement agencies nationwide for help with the seemingly random shootings of the homeless men this week, emphasizing the type of bullets used.
Detective David Quinn told a news conference Wednesday that both men were shot repeatedly, using a type of .45-caliber bullet with an elongated shape often called a “cowboy bullet.”
Jenkins was shot five times and Mims was shot seven times, a frequency Quinn called “overkill.”
Homeless advocates warned their clients to be on guard as police investigated.
