Pittsburgh Review

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - A former resident of West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in federal court on August 28, 2024, to charges of violating federal drug trafficking and firearms laws, United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced today.

Giante Hilliard, 30, pleaded guilty to four counts before United States District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan. During his plea hearing, Hilliard admitted facts related to three separate incidents in late March and late May of 2023 that led to the charges in this case.

The first incident took place on March 28, 2023, when Hilliard was involved in an exchange of gunfire outside a McKees Rocks bar. Video of the incident shows that moments after Hilliard and another individual left the bar and started to drive off, a third person shot at the car they occupied. Hilliard returned fire from the vehicle’s passenger seat.

In the second incident on May 8, 2023, Hilliard was a passenger in a vehicle that law enforcement attempted to stop. The driver rammed three law enforcement vehicles and sped off. Shortly after, law enforcement located the disabled vehicle abandoned near a convenience store. Nearby surveillance video showed Hilliard holding a black bag that he attempted to conceal under a dumpster. The black bag was recovered by law enforcement and found to contain a loaded Smith & Wesson handgun and approximately 300 doses of what laboratory results later confirmed was a heroin and fentanyl mixture. Ballistic testing matched the handgun with casings from the March 28 shooting.

Finally, on May 31, 2023, Hilliard posted on social media a video of himself with another firearm. Based on information from that video and other evidence gathered during the investigation, the government obtained a search warrant for a residence where Hilliard was hiding out and the vehicle he had been driving. Law enforcement surrounded the house; however, Hilliard refused to come out until several hours after officers fired multiple rounds of tear gas into the home. A subsequent search resulted in the seizure of ammunition and stamp bags containing heroin and fentanyl similar to those found on May 8.

Prior to these incidents, Hilliard had been convicted of several felony offenses including aggravated assault and possession of unlicensed firearms.

Hilliard pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition related to the March 28 incident; possession with intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl as well as possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime related to the May 8 incident; and being a felon in possession of ammunition on May 31. The law provides for a total sentence ranging from five years up to life imprisonment.

Assistant United States Attorneys Brendan T. Conway and Douglas C. Maloney are prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives conducted the investigation along with officers from various local police departments.