Police say the 19-year-old suspect attacked a former co-worker while free on bond in a separate stabbing case.
PITTSBURGH — A 19-year-old former Home Depot employee is being held without bail after authorities accused him of repeatedly stabbing a former co-worker at Pittsburgh’s East Liberty Station following a workplace dispute, according to police and court-related reports.
Delvin Dobbins faces charges including attempted homicide, aggravated assault, possession of an instrument of crime and recklessly endangering another person in the Oct. 1 attack. Authorities said the victim, a 20-year-old Wilkinsburg resident, was taken to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in critical condition. The case has drawn added attention because Dobbins had been released on nonmonetary bond days earlier after his arrest in another stabbing.
The East Liberty attack happened shortly before 6 p.m. at the station along the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway. According to a criminal complaint described by news organizations that obtained the document, witnesses reported seeing Dobbins fighting with the victim before the confrontation escalated. Police allege Dobbins stabbed the man several times and fled the area.
The complaint says Dobbins and the victim previously worked together at a Home Depot in the East Liberty area. Dobbins had been fired after allegedly threatening the other man, and investigators said their dispute involved a female co-worker. The complaint also described a threatening statement Dobbins allegedly made toward the victim before the attack. Those accusations have not been proven in court.
Authorities initially identified Dobbins as a suspect while they searched for him after the stabbing. Police arrested him Sunday after receiving information that he was at a fast-food restaurant on McKnight Road. Ross Township police and the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office took him into custody, according to Port Authority police. He was then booked into the Allegheny County Jail.
The new case came just over a week after another stabbing in Pittsburgh’s Garfield neighborhood. Police said that incident began with an argument aboard a bus on Sept. 23. The confrontation continued after the men got off the bus, and authorities accused Dobbins of stabbing a man in the stomach. That victim was hospitalized in serious but stable condition. Police later found Dobbins nearby, and officers used a Taser during the arrest after authorities said he resisted them.
Dobbins was charged with aggravated assault in the Sept. 23 case. District Judge Dan Butler later released him on nonmonetary bond, meaning he did not have to post money to leave custody while the case was pending. The Oct. 1 East Liberty stabbing occurred eight days after the earlier incident. Pittsburgh Police Chief Jason Lando publicly raised concerns about the earlier release after learning Dobbins was suspected in the second attack.
Local reports also described other cases involving Dobbins. He was arrested in 2024 in connection with a burglary while he was a juvenile and was later accused in a shooting that wounded a convenience store employee on Pittsburgh’s South Side. WPXI reported that the outcome of the shooting case was unclear from information available to the station. Those earlier allegations are separate from the current East Busway prosecution.
A more recent report also said Dobbins had been accused in September of entering the home of a former foster parent who had a restraining order against him. He was charged with criminal trespassing and released on nonmonetary bail, according to reporting based on court records. Authorities cited his recent arrests when arguing that he posed a safety risk if released again.
A judge granted a request to deny bail following Dobbins’ arrest in the East Liberty case. He remained in the Allegheny County Jail as of Thursday. The criminal charges are allegations, and prosecutors will have to prove them in court. His next court appearance was reported as scheduled for Oct. 15.