On the night of June 17, 1979, 35-year-old Roger Dennis Tackett, a male, was ending his shift as the manager of a Tenneco convenience store in Cobb County, Georgia. After completing his paperwork, he grabbed a loaf of bread, leaving a note and money on the counter to pay for it. As he was locking the store door, he was confronted by two armed men.
The assailants were identified as Van Roosevelt Solomon and Brandon Astor Jones.
They demanded money from Tackett, but he was unable to open the store's safe. The two men then shot Tackett multiple times, with wounds to his thumb, hip, and head. He died on the floor of the storeroom.
A Cobb County police officer happened to be outside the store at the time of the shooting, dropping off a stranded motorist. This led to the immediate arrest of both Solomon and Jones. Gunpowder residue was found on both of their hands, though each man blamed the other for firing the fatal shots.
Both Van Roosevelt Solomon and Brandon Astor Jones were tried and convicted for the murder of Roger Tackett. Solomon was executed by electrocution. Jones, after years of appeals, was executed by lethal injection, nearly 37 years after the murder. At 72 years old, he was the oldest inmate on Georgia's death row at the time of his execution.
