DETROIT – A man pistol whipped and carjacked a driver who went to a Detroit gas station for his morning coffee, only to be caught days later because he was still using the stolen car.
Bryan Cordarill Wilkins, 36, is named in a criminal complaint that was filed July 24, 2024.
Detroit carjacking
On July 18, 2024, a 61-year-old man said he drove his 2008 Jeep Patriot to the Amoco gas station at 10001 Fenkell Avenue on Detroit’s west side. He went for his morning coffee before work, a routine he had followed for the past five years.
After the man bought his coffee in the market, he returned to the Patriot and sat down in the driver’s seat. As he went to close the door, Wilkins pulled it back open, pointed a gun at him, and said, “Give me your keys and money, (expletive),” according to officials.
The criminal complaint says the carjacking was caught on gas station security cameras.
The driver got out of his car and Wilkins pointed the gun at him, officials said.
When the man tried to run away, he fell down and dislocated his left shoulder, completely tore the rotator cuff, and shattered his left humerus to the elbow, the complaint says.
He got up and moved toward the door of the gas station market, but he said he realized he still had the keys. Wilkins followed him and said, “Didn’t I tell you to give me your keys and money?”
Officials said Wilkins hit the man in the back of the head with his pistol. The man gave Wilkins his keys and went inside.
Wilkins got into the Patriot and drove away, authorities said.
Driver’s injuries
The man asked the clerk to call 911, and an ambulance took him to a nearby hospital.
He was in the hospital for three days and had emergency surgery on his left arm. He will not regain full use of the arm for about six months, doctors said.
After his release, the man described the carjacker to police and said he had been armed with a Glock pistol.
Wilkins found with stolen Jeep
Detroit police saw the stolen Patriot on July 21, parked near the intersection of Pierson Street and Eaton Avenue on the city’s west side.
Wilkins eventually got out and walked south of Pierson Street. Officers told Wilkins to stop, and he fled west through a field toward Burt Road, they said.
Wilkins fell down during the chase, got up, and started running again. He eventually stopped and taken into custody, officials said. That’s when he was identified.
A canine retraced Wilkins’ path and found a set of keys and a cellphone that he had dropped during the chase. The keys belonged to the stolen Patriot.
When police searched the cellphone, they found text messages from Wilkins in which he told someone else that he had stolen a truck using a Glock, an expert said. The text referencing a truck was sent about 30 minutes after the carjacking.
Arrest warrant request
Wilkins has previous guilty pleas for carrying a concealed weapon, delivering/manufacturing drugs, armed robbery, carjacking, prisoner possessing contraband, resisting a police officer, and possession/use of body armor by a violent felon.
At the time of his July 21 arrest, Wilkins was under supervision from a Michigan Department of Corrections probation officer.
The criminal complaint concludes there’s probable cause that Wilkins took a car from someone by force and violence or by intimidation, with intent to cause death or serious bodily harm.
An arrest warrant for Wilkins was requested.