Man gets life in prison for 2021 fatal shooting

A man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the fatal shooting of another man during a 2021 armed robbery attempt in Cobb County, officials said.

Brandon Glover, 25, was found guilty Friday of five counts of murder and one count each of aggravated assault, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, Cobb District Attorney Flynn Broady said. Glover was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 45 years, in the death of Thaddeus Statum.

“While nothing can undo the loss suffered by the family and friends of Thaddeus Statum, we hope that the verdict brings them some measure of closure,” Broady said.

On Sept. 30, 2021, police officers responded to a vehicle that had crashed through a chain-link fence along Blackhawk Trail off U.S. 78. Officials said they found Statum, 31, in the passenger seat with a gunshot to his lower abdomen. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

The driver remained at the scene and told police he and Statum “were set up by two males who tried to rob them,” Broady said. The driver added that when all four of them arrived at Blackhawk Trail, Glover got out of a vehicle and fired a shot into their vehicle, striking Statum, authorities said.

He was able to provide a description of both alleged suspects, as well as a phone number and tag number of one of the suspects.

Broady confirmed Glover was eventually identified as the shooter through a photo lineup.

According to a GoFundMe campaign the victim’s sister, Treneka Christian, put together, Statum was a father to a 5-year-old girl and expecting a second child at the time of the shooting. He had also lost his mother to cancer and heart failure a few months prior, Christian wrote.

Thaddeus Statum