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December 20, 2005

Police seek suspect in attempted holdups

By Kim Sloan

A man pulled up to a father and son at Bi-Lo on East Walnut Avenue on Dec. 8 as they were loading groceries into their truck, pulled out a gun and demanded their wallets.

He might have been successful — if he had put his truck in park.

“Your truck is rolling away,” the father said he told the man.

The man began chasing the truck and drove away, the father said.

“That (the truck rolling away) is what saved us,” the father, who asked not to be identified, said. “Because someone was going to get hurt.”

Dalton Police detectives believe the man was Charles Edward Pilkington, 44, of Cohutta. They say he is also responsible for another attempted armed robbery that occurred just moments earlier on Shugart Road.

Warrants have been taken for Pilkington’s arrest, said Dalton police spokesman Chris McDonald. Pilkington is considered armed and dangerous.

In the Shugart Road incident, detectives believe Pilkington pulled a gun on a woman and her two small children as they waited in their car while the father bought Christmas presents.

The woman fought back, saying, “No, you are not getting in here” as the man tried to get inside the car while holding a gun, according to a police department incident report.

The man at the Bi-Lo said he also tried to fight back.

“I had just been paid and he was not going to get it,” he said. “I was going to try to take him and take my chances.”

He believes the man had been watching as they loaded the groceries into their truck.

“All the sudden he just appeared,” the man said. “I am always running into someone I know so I spoke to him and as soon as I did he came out with a revolver.”

Pilkington is described as a white male, about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighing 170 pounds with brown hair and green eyes.

Dalton police questioned Pilkington and photographed him, but did not arrest him. McDonald did not say when Pilkington was questioned.

“Once we get pictures, then we can get them to victims and do some photo line ups,” McDonald said.

Anyone with information about Pilkington is asked to contact Detective Chris Johnson at 278-9085, extension 222.

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