In Atlanta, Man With Dementia Faces Deportation Decades After Killing

As he approaches a flock of pigeons on a downtown Atlanta sidewalk, John Lokos flaps his arms slowly to let them know he’s a friend. He pours peanuts and rice on the ground and puts his finger to his lips.

“They feel safe right now when we’re quiet,” he says, and the birds gobble up their snack.

Lokos visits the pigeons frequently to feed them from his own meager supply. His friends affectionately call him Bird Man and say his gentleness with the birds extends to everyone around him. But in 1963, he committed a brutal killing that sent him to prison for 45 years and could ultimately lead to his deportation, at 82 years old, to a country he left as a boy during World War II.