Police: Same gun used in deaths of 2 homeless people as they slept outside in Atlanta

ATLANTA — The same gun was used to kill two homeless men who were shot as they slept, wrapped in blankets on the streets of Atlanta in separate slayings last month, according to Atlanta police.

Now, police hope the bullets will lead them to the killer.

Law enforcement agencies nationwide have been alerted, but none have reported crimes that match the seemingly senseless and random Atlanta shootings, Detective David Quinn said Wednesday.

A type of .45-caliber bullet with an elongated shape — often called a "cowboy bullet" — was used each time, he said.

In the first killing, Dorian Jenkins, 42, was found dead in a blanket on a sidewalk Nov. 23. In the second, Tommy Mims, 68, was shot while curled up in a blanket Nov. 26. Both were likely shot repeatedly early in the morning in what Quinn describes as "overkill."

Jenkins was shot five times and Mims was shot seven times, Quinn told a news conference at police headquarters. He added that the gunman would have had to stop after five or six shots and reload as Mims was dying on the pavement to fire additional shots.

"It's sinister. It's evil in that there was nothing to gain from it monetarily," Quinn said, adding that most homicides in Atlanta involve robbery or the resolution of an ongoing dispute or debt.

Homeless advocates have been warning people to be on guard, and Quinn has been out on the streets on recent nights urging Atlanta's homeless to be extremely cautious "until we know what we're dealing with," he said.

"This reminds me of the David Berkowitz case when I was kid up in New York," Quinn said, referring to the man known as Son of Sam, who used a revolver to kill six people in the mid-1970s.

In Atlanta, Quinn said, "this guy is shooting homeless people who are sleeping in the wide open."

Quinn said he doesn't believe the shooter knew who he was aiming at because the men were covered to keep warm. "It was just a human being inside a blanket," Quinn said.

"It looks like these guys never woke up," he added.