Christopher Bey, a 50-year-old resident of Highland Park, Michigan, has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. Bey pleaded guilty to Interference with Commerce by Robbery, Use of a Firearm in Relation to a Crime of Violence, and being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm. These charges relate to incidents involving armed robbery, a shooting, and an attempted armed robbery in the city of Pontiac, announced Acting United States Attorney Julie A. Beck.
Joining Beck in the announcement were Special Agent in Charge James Dier of the ATF’s Detroit Division and Sheriff Michael Bouchard of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
“Removing violent offenders from our community is one of the office’s top priorities,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Julie Beck. “We will not stop being laser-focused on aggressively prosecuting dangerous individuals who persist in terrorizing our citizens. The strategies we use to identify the drivers of violence, who we then prosecute, works. We are truly making our community safer.”
Special Agent in Charge James Dier of ATF Detroit remarked, “This 20-year sentence is RIGHTEOUS. Mr. Bey is a sociopathic serial shooter who has consistently shown an inability to follow societal rules. It most certainly sends a clear message: if you use a firearm to shoot an innocent member of our community, there is absolutely no limit on the resources ATF will expend to hunt you down and hold you accountable for your cowardly conduct.” He further commented, “Everyone deserves to feel safe when they go to work to provide for their family. Armed criminals motivated by greed have no place in our Michigan community, and ATF will tirelessly work with our state and local partners to remove the most dangerous offenders off our streets and put them where they belong: behind bars.”
Bey's criminal activities included robbing a Boost Mobile store in Pontiac on February 4, 2023. During the robbery, he brandished a firearm and demanded money from a store employee. Despite the employee's compliance, Bey shot the victim twice using a potato as a makeshift silencer, a tactic he admitted learning from a movie. The victim was hospitalized for about a month.
In another incident, Bey attempted to rob a Dollar General Store in Pontiac on March 24, 2023, using similar threatening tactics. However, a customer intervened, leading Bey to flee the scene. Bey faced additional charges as a felon in possession of a firearm. He was identified through images on his social media accounts where he was seen holding a firearm with his face obscured by a ski mask.
Christopher Lee Bey was arrested on July 26, 2023, by the Pontiac Gun Violence Task Force (GVTF) with assistance from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office’s K9 Unit, Customs Border Protection - Aviation Enforcement, and the Detroit Police Department. Since then, he has remained in custody.
The GVTF was formed by the ATF and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office and is responsible for investigating unlawful firearm possession and use in violent crimes in Pontiac and surrounding areas.
The prosecution of the case was managed by the Violent & Organized Crime Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office.