Hiram Carjacker Has Long Criminal History, Including Involuntary Manslaughter

The man who allegedly threatened to kill a woman while stealing her car from a Hiram gas station earlier this month was trying the same stunt when he was arrested in Atlanta Wednesday.

And it’s just one part of 24-year-old Zachary Ryan Shipp’s alleged brushes with the law, which includes an indictment earlier this year in Douglas County for involuntary manslaughter in the 2013 overdose death of a Dallas man.

Shipp, who is suspected in the Aug. 8 carjacking at a Racetrac in Hiram, was arrested Wednesday after stealing a Porsche Cayenne from a Chevron Station on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway in Atlanta.

11 Alive News reported that an Atlanta police officer spotted the stolen Porsche and gave chase. Shipp eventually drove off the road and hit a utility pole, ending the chase. As he was being searched, police said they discovered two bags of marijuana concealed in his privates.

Along with the Hiram carjacking, Shipp faces charges of auto theft, marijuana possession, reckless conduct, leaving the roadway, possession of a firearm, and obstruction. He also has warrants out for his arrest in Cobb and DeKalb counties.

In February, Shipp was indicted by a Douglas County grand jury for his alleged role in concealing a drug overdose death in 2013, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The newspaper said his trial for involuntary manslaughter is tentatively scheduled for September.

Shipp was implicated with three others, including his girlfriend and her mother, in covering up the heroin overdose death of Michael Topper Duffy of Dallas in May 2013. They are accused of dumping Duffy’s body in a dumpster at a Dollar Store in Douglasville.

Patch editor Justin Ove contributed to this story

(Photo: Zachary Ryan Shipp. Credit: Fulton County Jail)