Palm Springs Scissor-Stabbing Suspect Pleads Guilty, Awaits Sentencing

PALM SPRINGS, CA — A 42-year-old Palm Springs resident accused of stabbing a man and threatening to stab an am/pm convenience store clerk was awaiting sentencing Wednesday after pleading guilty to attempted murder and other charges.

Christopher William Freitas also entered guilty pleas Monday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio to two felony counts of criminal threats and one felony count each of attempted robbery, assault with a non-firearm deadly weapon and resisting or deterring an officer, in addition to a misdemeanor for willful resistance or obstruction, according to case records.

The defendant is scheduled for a sentence-related hearing on Dec. 26.

Freitas was arrested in February 2022 after the Palm Springs Police Department received a report of a stabbing in the 1300 block of Vista Chino.

According to officials, Freitas approached his neighbor and an altercation ensued for unknown reasons. During the fight, he allegedly stabbed the neighbor, then fled the scene on foot.

While police were at the scene of the initial report, they received a call about a man with a knife matching Freitas' description at an am/pm store in the 1700 block of Vista Chino.

According to police, the suspect entered the store and began eating food. When asked to stop, he allegedly grabbed a pair of scissors and attempted to stab the store clerk. Patrons within the store allegedly restrained him and threw him out of the store, where police later found and arrested him.

He was initially booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on $1 million bail.