In the cold early hours of winter and into February, a string of quiet convenience-store and tobacco-shop counters across Commerce Township, Dearborn and Novi became places of fear, where a clerk faced a black handgun and a floral backpack held open for cash. Such moments remind us how ordinary commerce depends on trust between strangers, and how fragile that trust becomes when someone chooses to hide behind a mask and a public online persona. Police now attribute the four robberies to one man, a TikTok creator with a large following, whose own digital footprints helped lead investigators to h
Popular TikTok User Accused of Four Armed Robberies Across Metro Detroit Suburbs
Store clerks were held at gunpoint during the robberies, including one who had a gun pressed to their back.
A tip, a renamed profile, and videos with half his hair dyed pinkish purple
Mark
What actually led police to him? It sounds like social media worked against him.
Mimi
It did. A tip reached Dearborn police through a chain of people, and it named a Snapchat profile. By the time officers looked, the name had changed, but it led to the TikTok account where videos showed his pink-purple hair and shoes matching the surveillance footage.
Luke
Worth noting the tip itself was secondhand, from someone who stayed anonymous. What the reporting supports is that police then built their own case on top of it.
Mark
And what was that case?
Mimi
Surveillance of his Redford Township home, a Malibu registered to him, and cellphone records placing him near all four robberies at the right times.
Luke
Those details come from the criminal complaint, so they're police allegations. The phone data is described, but we haven't seen the records.
Mark
What about the confession?
Mimi
The complaint says he was read his Miranda rights and admitted all four. He also explained the gloves as part of a skeleton suit found in the house.
Luke
Again, that's the complaint's account. There's no word here on a plea or a defense, and no formal charges are reported yet.
Mark
What did the clerks go through?
Mimi
Guns pointed at them, racked slides, one with a gun pressed to their back, and one who refused at first before a round hit the counter.
O Pulso
- A gun pressed to a clerk's back in Dearborn turned a routine overnight shift into a moment of terror.
- Four robberies in about three months rattled three communities and left store workers wondering who would come through the door next.
- Investigators chased a tip through Snapchat and TikTok accounts, matching videos and clothing to victim descriptions.
- Surveillance, cellphone location data and a home search closed in, and the suspect admitted the robberies after his Miranda warnings.
- The case is now heading toward formal charges and court proceedings on robbery and firearm counts.
In the cold early hours of winter and into February, a string of quiet convenience-store and tobacco-shop counters across Commerce Township, Dearborn and Novi became places of fear, where a clerk faced a black handgun and a floral backpack held open for cash. Such moments remind us how ordinary commerce depends on trust between strangers, and how fragile that trust becomes when someone chooses to hide behind a mask and a public online persona. Police now attribute the four robberies to one man, a TikTok creator with a large following, whose own digital footprints helped lead investigators to his door. As the case moves toward formal charges, the story rests on a simple human question: how the act of ordinary work can be shadowed by the choices of someone who believed he could stay anonymous.
Early on the morning of Dec. 1, 2021, a man in a black ski mask stepped up to the counter of a 7-Eleven on Benstein Road in Commerce Township. He set down a black backpack with pink flowers, drew a handgun, pulled back the slide, and waited while the clerk filled the bag with money. It was the first of four armed robberies police now link to one man over roughly three months.
The pattern continued in Dearborn, where a clerk at a Marathon station was forced to face a gun pressed to their back, and again at the Commerce Township store, where a clerk first refused and then complied after the man ejected a live round onto the counter. In Novi, a tobacco shop was the last target. Through every robbery the clothing stayed nearly the same, with a few details that would later matter, including pink or red hair peeking out of the ski mask.
The break came from a tip that pointed to social media accounts. Those accounts led to Chozen Hannah, a TikTok creator with nearly 150,000 followers, whose videos showed hair dyed a similar color and shoes matching the surveillance footage. Investigators followed him, traced his phone to the area of each robbery, and on Feb. 23 searched his home, where they say they found a handgun, the floral backpack and a skeleton suit that explained the gloves victims had described.
After being read his rights, Hannah admitted to all four robberies. Probable cause has been stated in the complaint, and the next steps are formal charges and court proceedings.
At 3:14 on the morning of Dec. 1, 2021, a man in a black ski mask walked up to the counter of the 7-Eleven at 710 Benstein Road in Commerce Township, set a black backpack with pink flowers on it in front of the clerk, and drew a black handgun. According to court records, he pulled back the slide as if chambering a round, the clerk put money in the bag, and he left.
That was the first of four armed robberies that police now attribute to one man over about three months, across Commerce Township, Dearborn and Novi. The man accused is Chozen Hannah, a TikTok user with nearly 150,000 followers.
The second came at 4:36 a.m. on Jan. 13, at the Marathon gas station on Ford Road in Dearborn. Police say the man put the backpack on the counter, walked around to where the clerk was working, pressed the gun to the clerk's back and demanded money. He also took 18 Backwoods cigars. A .40-caliber bullet was later found on the floor near the counter.
On Jan. 26 at 11:22 p.m., he returned to the same Commerce Township 7-Eleven. This time the clerk at first refused to fill the backpack. Authorities say the man pulled the slide back and ejected a round onto the counter, and the clerk then complied. The round was recovered and determined to be .40-caliber. The fourth robbery happened at 7:48 p.m. on Feb. 1 at the Old West Tobacco store on West Pontiac Trail in Novi. He took money and several boxes of cigars. In that robbery, pink or red hair was seen sticking out of his ski mask.
The clothing was consistent throughout: black pants, a black hooded sweatshirt, a black ski mask, white shoes and the floral backpack, with black and white gloves added from January on.
The break came in Dearborn. Police there received a tip about a possible suspect in the Marathon robbery, passed along by someone who had it from another person who wished to stay anonymous. The tip pointed to a Snapchat profile called "Sabali," under the account name "Chozenn_One." When officers checked it, the profile had been renamed "ChozenWrld," which was tied to a TikTok profile of the same name. Dearborn police identified Hannah as the person behind the accounts.
Videos on the profile, according to the criminal complaint, showed Hannah with half his hair dyed pinkish purple and wearing shoes that matched those in surveillance footage. Police also found his physical characteristics largely consistent with what victims described in all four robberies.
Investigators identified a possible residence on Virgil Road in Redford Township. On Feb. 9 they watched the house and saw a Chevrolet Malibu registered to Hannah in the driveway, and later saw him standing in the front yard. On Feb. 11 they followed him as he drove to a nearby pet supplies store. A warrant for his cellphone was authorized Feb. 14. Records placed the phone in the area of all four robberies at the times they occurred, and its location during the pet store trip matched the surveillance, helping confirm the phone was his.
On Wednesday, Feb. 23, authorities executed a search warrant at the home while Hannah was inside. They say they found a black Glock handgun, a black floral-pattern backpack, a full-body skeleton suit and white Nike tennis shoes. After being read his Miranda rights, Hannah admitted to all four robberies, the complaint states. He explained that the black and white gloves described by victims were part of the skeleton suit.
The complaint concludes there is probable cause that Hannah committed robbery affecting interstate commerce and possessed a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence in all four instances. Formal charges and court proceedings are the next things to watch.
Citações Notáveis
Hannah admitted to committing all four armed robberies after being advised of his Miranda rights.— Criminal complaint, as reported by WDIV
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