Man wanted on firearms violations surrenders to Pittsburgh police at Hazelwood residence

A 19-year-old man wanted on firearms violations barricaded himself inside of a house Thursday in Hazelwood before surrendering to law enforcement, Pittsburgh Public Safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz said in a news release.

Donald Hines Jr. was arrested and charged with firearms and narcotics violations, the news release said.

Pittsburgh police, with the assistance of SWAT, arrived at the 400 block of West Elizabeth Street on Thursday morning to execute a felony arrest warrant.

Police obtained additional search warrants and recovered a fully automatic pistol modified with a switch and extended magazine and “quantities of heroin and crack cocaine” from the scene, the news release said.

The arrest was the culmination of several weeks of investigation that began after an arrest warrant was obtained for Hines on Nov. 2, a refile warrant for an incident that occurred on Nov. 16, 2022, the criminal complaint said.

Last year, Hines was taken into custody with several others who were fleeing from a stolen vehicle Downtown. On the rear passenger seat where Hines was seated, police discovered a camouflage ghost gun 9mm with a 30-round magazine and rounds on the rear passenger seat.

Police began surveilling Hines’ last known addresses and frequented places, including 419 W. Elizabeth St., in early December, the complaint said.

Several times, police observed a man with a black face covering walking in and out of the house with what they believed was a concealed firearm.

Photos and videos on Hines’ Instagram account showed him wearing that same face covering, which led police to conclude this was Hines. They also watched videos of Hines talking about the refiling of his previous court cases, which indicated he knew police were investigating him, the complaint states.

According to the complaint, Hines said in one of his videos that he “will put his switch in the face of anyone that comes after him,” while holding a firearm. Police deduced that “the switch” he referred to would convert his firearm from semi-automatic to fully automatic.

Because of previous charges, Hines is prohibited from possessing a firearm, the complaint said.

Just before 7 a.m. Thursday, law enforcement surrounded 419 W Elizabeth St. Two men, Donald Matthews and Donald Matthews III, and two juveniles exited the house and were detained inside of a SWAT vehicle.

Matthews, Hines’ uncle, told police he believed his nephew was still in the residence, and gave law enforcement a phone number to call him. When Hines did not answer, police used a loudspeaker to tell him to surrender.

Hines surrendered to SWAT operators 45 minutes later. He is being held in Allegheny County Jail.