Police: Convicted sex offender on violent crime spree pistol-whips man during Dearborn carjacking

Christopher Pinkard charged with multiple felonies

DEARBORN, Mich. – A convicted sex offender who police say went on a violent crime spree this weekend was caught on video pistol-whipping a man during a carjacking in Dearborn.

Police call Christopher Pinkard a "threat to society." He laughed in court Thursday as he was charged with multiple felonies.

Pinkard, 33, of Detroit, violated his ankle monitoring system, officials said. He was out of prison as a convicted sex offender of a minor.

Starting Saturday, officials said he went on a violent crime spree.

"Mr. Pinkard is a suspect in a strangulation where shots were fired a day before this incident in the city of Dearborn, and also, the day after, the city of Detroit on an additional carjacking," Dearborn police Detective Matthew Wilson said.

A security camera appeared to capture video of Pinkard dressed in a worker vest and hard hat while hitting a man with a gun and stealing his car on Warren Avenue in Dearborn.

Moments before the incident, Kalil McHaimech, of the Cedar food market, said Pinkard walked past and said hi to him.

"The officers came back, asking, 'Did you guys see a man wearing a DTE Energy shirt?'" McHaimech said. "I'm like, 'Yeah, he just passed by. He said hi.' He's like, 'Well, he just robbed your neighbors at gunpoint.'"

The carjacking victims were two brothers. They were stunned that they would be carjacked in the heart of Dearborn on a Sunday morning.

Dearborn police caught Pinkard because he left his identification in a running car around the corner from the carjacking scene, officials said.

"He left it running, came down, walked around the building, robbed their car, took off and left his car on the side of the building," McHaimech said. "Officers knew who he was by finding his ID in the car."


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Local 4 Defender Shawn Ley is an Emmy award-winning journalist who has been with Local 4 News for more than a decade.

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