Brandon Thomas, who was shot to death two days ago while repossessing a car, never talked much about the dangers of being a repo man, his wife said Friday.
“He never let on to me that it was that big of a deal,” Brandy Thomas said Friday. “Brandon is a big tough guy, and people don’t mess with him.”
Thomas, 27, of Kennesaw, started working with a Marietta repossession company about six months ago, she said. The Navy veteran had also worked as a bar bouncer at Underground Atlanta and most recently at Hiram Station in Paulding County.
At about 6 feet and 265 pounds, “he was one of those no-fear kind of guys,” she said.
Though big and intimidating, the North Cobb High grad was “a big goofball” in his private life, she said.
“Our date night consisted of us going to the Cheesecake Factory for me and to Dave and Buster’s for him,” she said. “He was just a big kid.”
Fulton County police said Thomas was shot about 1 a.m. Thursday after he and his partner, 36-year-old Willie Thackston of Rydal, towed a car out of a yard in south Fulton County.
Police said a man inside the house fired shots and then followed in a van when the repo men drove away. The man in the van forced the tow truck off the road and forced Thackston to take the Mustang off the truck, said Scott McBride, a Fulton police spokesman.
The man fled in the Mustang, which was found about 9:30 p.m. Thursday behind a warehouse in the 4700 block of Aviation Boulevard in unincorporated Clayton County.
Police found Thomas dead and Thackston wounded at the tow truck. Thackston was listed Friday afternoon in fair condition in the intensive care unit at Grady Memorial Hospital.
Police are looking for Justin Moore, 29. Charges against him include murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Les McCook, executive vice president of the American Recovery Association, said incidents in which guns appear during repossessions are “few and far between.”
“Most people are not going to shoot you over an automobile,” he said. “Once they get what they want they’re gone.”
Thomas’ mother said she worried because her son worked in a dangerous business.
“I would love for somebody to come up with some ideas about how these men could have [protective] vests while they do this job,” Treva Thomas said.
But his wife doubted he would wear one. She said he mentioned a co-worker did and “thought it was kind of ha ha funny.”
“I don’t think you can make somebody do something they don’t want to do,” Brandy Thomas said.
A funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at Woodstock Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to an account set up to defray funeral expenses at the Bank of North Georgia in Marietta.
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