Gunfire Resulting in Woman’s Death Driven by Drug Use
The East Hills area of Pittsburg recently reported a killing. A woman lost her life during a gun battle between police and a group of men. The gunfight resulted from a botched robbery of drugs and cash.
The Post Gazette reported that a third man, Amir Ferguson, has been charged in the incident. This defendant told detectives that during the crime he was high on Ecstasy and cocaine. Ferguson was arrested at the hospital where he had been taken when he was shot in the arm during the gunfight.
The incident occurred when police arrived at a home seeking another individual on an unrelated warrant. People in the home had scrambled to escape when the police arrived. Ferguson reportedly charged at a deputy who had tried to arrest him. In the scuffle, he was shot when he ignored orders from the deputy to stop.
Other men in the house were high on drugs and readily engaged in the gunfire after the first shot was heard. Roughly 40 rounds were fired in the gunfight, which took the life of a mother of two. Ms. Hainesworth was 24 years old and reportedly not an innocent bystander.
Instead, Hainesworth was known to allow a drug dealer to use her apartment as a safe house for drug use and distribution. Police officers found about $50,000 worth of heroin in her purse.
Detectives are still unclear as to who fired the shot that killed Hainesworth, although insist the bullet did not come from a police gun. Hainesworth’s home was being ransacked by the accused men who were searching for the heroin they were told was in Hainesworth’s home.