Crime

There's been a break in the investigation into the Brianna Kupfer murder case in Los Angeles ... law enforcement says they've identified a suspect.

The Los Angeles Police Department says the man is 31-year-old Shawn Laval Smith and he's now wanted in connection with Brianna's murder.

Cops released a mug shot of the suspect Tuesday and say Smith should be considered armed and dangerous. LAPD says he's been all over Southern California recently and is likely to be using public transportation.

Brianna, a grad student at UCLA, was murdered Thursday while working at a furniture store in what cops are calling a random daytime attack.

Police say Smith did not know Brianna and they do not have a motive. Cops say the suspect attacked Brianna with a knife and fled the store using the back door.

Vic Mensa's having a bad trip -- back from Africa, that is -- because U.S. Customs Agents have him in custody for allegedly returning with a stash of mushrooms ... TMZ has learned.

The rapper was taken into custody Saturday at Dulles International Airport outside D.C. ... where he'd just returned from Ghana. According to our law enforcement sources, Vic was pulled aside for a secondary search, and that's when agents found what they believe are shrooms.

We're told the feds are still testing the substance they allegedly found to confirm it is what they think it is.

Vic was booked for felony narcotics possession. Fun fact: Psilocybin (the scientific name for shrooms) remains a Schedule I substance under federal law -- although there's now a push in some states to legalize it ... and they've already been decriminalized in some communities.

Vic had been hanging in Ghana with Chance the Rapper and lots of people in high places. The duo posed for pics with President Nana Akufo-Addo.

The Chicago-born and raised artists had been traveling around Africa for a couple weeks to encourage tourism.

We've reached out to Vic's reps, but no word back yet.

Kylie Jenner got another layer of protection after a judge ordered an obsessed fan to stay clear of her for 5 years.

Kylie's been dogged by a guy who's been showing up at her Holmby Hills home over the last year. He was arrested in December after violating a temporary restraining order by going to her house and buzzing the gate.

Kylie's lawyer, Shawn Holley, filed legal docs to make the restraining order permanent, and the judge obliged ... so the fan is prohibited from going near Kylie or otherwise harassing her.

It's not the only obsessed fan Kylie's dealing with. Another guy showed up near Kylie's house, flowers in hand, to propose to her. He ended up on a neighbor's property by mistake and was arrested for misdemeanor trespass.

A gunman has reportedly taken several people hostage at a synagogue in Texas, and his demands are simple ... free his sister, who was once suspected of terrorist activities.

According to ABC's Aaron Katersky, the armed man who wandered into the Congregation Beth Israel Synagogue in Colleyville Saturday has allegedly been ID'd as Muhammad Siddiqui, whom he says is claiming to be the brother of convicted felon Aafia Siddiqui.

She was sent to prison in 2010 after being found guilty of attempted murder of a U.S. military officer in Afghanistan -- among a slew of other charges -- and is serving out an 86-year sentence in the Fort Worth area. She's alleged to have had ties with al-Qaeda over the years ... and has been placed on federal law enforcement terrorism watch lists in the past.

Per Katersky, the gunman is demanding her release. Other reports say the perp claims to be armed with bombs, among other weapons ... the full extent of which is still unknown. Local law enforcement has descended on the scene to negotiate, as has the FBI.

Even crazier ... there was apparently a bar-mitzvah going on when the guy busted in, which was being live-streamed to the synagogue's FB account ... a stream that has since been deactivated. Still, some of the snippets that were captured are now surfacing, and you can hear what is presumably the hostage-taker railing on America, and saying he's willing to die.

The fact this man crashed a synagogue for hostages is not lost on those who covered the Siddiqui case. She is reported to have had strong objections to Jewish people representing her in her defense. She also asked for Jews to be tossed from the jury pool at the time.

At the moment, the synagogue's rabbi and three others are believed to be among those being held captive. No word on injuries or deaths yet, but SWAT units have arrived.

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian's divorce does not seem friendly anymore ... at least from Kanye's vantage point.

Ye did an interview with Hollywood Unlocked, in which he seemed to be saying security at Kim's house prevented him from seeing his kids, and he says the reason is that Pete Davidson was inside.

Our Kim sources say Kim is committed to co-parenting with her soon-to-be ex-husband and is not restricting him -- in fact, we're told she goes "above and beyond" -- but it's pretty clear they're not seeing eye to eye.

Entertainment Tonight talked to Jason Lee from Hollywood Unlocked and provided some short excerpts of his interview with Kanye, who said, "Earlier this week, Monday, when I went to go pick my kids up from school, the security stopped me at the gate. So, at that point, security was in between me and my children and that's what was not going to happen."

Kanye went on .... "But, I didn't want to argue about it. So I just chilled, took my kids to school, and then took my kids back. I am driving. I bring them back and North was like, 'I want you to come upstairs and see something.' And it's like, 'Oh, Daddy can't come see something. Daddy can't come inside.' But that hadn't been defined."

Kanye says Kim hasn't talked to him about any restrictions, but he's adamant ... security has blocked him ... "My daughter wanted me to go inside. I was like, I am the richest Black man and North's father, right, and the security was able to stop me from going into the room with my daughter and that had not been defined."

Kanye then insinuates the reason he was blocked by security was because Pete Davidson was inside ... "And I am hearing that the new boyfriend is actually in the house that I can't even go to. And, that's where I call my cousins. And, my cousin is real opinionated, you know that. And I said, 'I need you to go and say these two things.' Security ain't going to be in between me and my children, and my children ain't going to be on TikTok without my permission."

As we reported, Kanye has been going at Pete, rapping in his track with The Game -- "Eazy" -- "God saved me from the crash, just so I can beat Pete Davidson's ass."

Kanye seemed triggered by Kim's "Saturday Night Live" hosting gig, where he came face-to-face with Pete ... "How you gonna bring me to 'SNL' and kiss the dude you dating right in front of me, and everybody's like, 'awww, that's cool.'"

Kanye also told Jason Lee the reason he punched a guy early Thursday morning, saying the guy wasn't a fan -- he was getting autographs to make money ... "This is the same as the paparazzi, this is not a fan. This is someone who is using your image, who probably never listened to your songs, are ones that are like, 'This is my song, for real?'"

Kanye says he got triggered because his cousins, who were there, were supposed to talk to Kim about making sure he has access to his kids, but they hadn't contacted her ... "So, now my cousins are coming back and they have not delivered on it. So, I end up getting into an altercation with the guy that wanted to make money off of my autographs, then my cousin pulls up and she's talking to me. I say, 'Give me a breather. Get away from me.' She is not taking accountability for the fact that she did not do what she was supposed to do, and that added to me being in a mood where I was like, 'I am not going to have this.'"

And, then the punches ... "I'm saying, 'You don't know what I'm dealing with right now.' I just finished these two songs, I came from the studio. I created the record, this impromptu shoot, and my cousins went and did really deliver the mission. And, this dude just, he just had this real attitude, like, 'Whatchu gonna do? And, see that?' Imma just tell you, that blue COVID mask ain't stop that knockout, you know what I'm saying."

Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli are now crime victims ... because we've learned their house was hit by burglars who walked away with a million bucks in jewelry.

It went down January 3 ... we're told Lori and Moss were not home. The break-in and theft were discovered by a housekeeper.

Law Enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the thieves smashed a bedroom window at their L.A.- area home. They were dressed in all black and wore masks. Cops know this from surveillance cams. Once inside, they stole Lori's jewelry box which contained super-expensive bling.

Cops don't know if Lori and Mossimo were specifically targeted or if this was a random burglary.

Cops believe a South American burglary crew pulled off the heist ... apparently, they travel to America, hit locations and then quickly leave the country.

Lori's camp tells TMZ ... Lori's thankful no one was hurt. Interestingly ... Bob Saget's death helped put the burglary in perspective for her ... she says material stuff isn't the most important thing in life, it's family and love.

Since the incident, Lori has beefed up security ... they'll be there around the clock, at least for the time being.

Kanye West still has Julia Fox in his corner despite tons of drama in his life ... we're told the new couple is still, well, a couple.

Our sources say Julia's been consoling Ye with everything he's been going through ... and not just the latest drama -- a criminal battery investigation after Kanye allegedly attacked and injured a man.

We're told Julia knew she'd have to help Kanye navigate his divorce from Kim Kardashian, but she may not have bargained for all the piled-on drama, including Ye's musical threat to kick Pete Davidson's ass.

Some outlets speculated Kanye and Julia were done, because we last saw her heading back into a club alone while he went on his way ... in a matter of hours, he was allegedly on the attack.

It hasn't scared Julia away ... she feels it's all part of signing up for the role as Ye's GF.

Julia has had her own drama ... she's dealing with her own split and co-parenting issues.

Cops are investigating Kanye West for allegedly punching an autograph seeker, and TMZ has obtained this video showing the man laid out on the street as Kanye rages at people who apparently work for him.

As we've reported, the alleged attack went down around 3 AM in DTLA, outside the Soho Warehouse -- and Ye was absolutely livid. When the video starts he's screaming, "get away from me" at a woman who's desperately trying to calm him down. She also says, "I am your family," but he continued storming away in anger. We're told the woman is Ye's cousin.

Witnesses tell us this was just seconds after Kanye allegedly punched the guy twice -- once in the head, and once in the neck -- and when the autograph seeker went down, his head struck the ground hard.

We're told Kanye had asked the small group of people outside the building not to take photos and said something about them not understanding what he's going through right now. When someone replied that it's okay, we all go through family stuff ... that's when Ye allegedly unloaded the 2 punches.

We're told Kanye had headed downtown after a late-night session in a Hollywood recording studio -- and a separate video shows he was already pissed off when he left there around 2:30 AM.

Ye was yelling at 2 women about something ... it's hard to make out, but they appear to be the same women who were with him downtown when the alleged attack went down.

Kanye West is a named suspect on an alleged battery early Thursday morning -- allegedly punching a fan -- TMZ has learned, and LAPD is investigating.

Law enforcement sources tell us ... Ye got into some sort of argument that allegedly turned physical around 3 AM in DTLA. We're told the incident occurred near the Soho Warehouse. We do not know if Ye was at Soho before the incident, but given the time, it seems likely.

We're told Kanye allegedly pushed and then punched a male fan ... the case is being investigated as misdemeanor battery ... a crime that carries a maximum jail sentence of 6 months.

FOX 11 -- who first broke the story -- says Kanye knocked the fan to the ground.

We've obtained video of an irate Kanye shot sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning. You hear Kanye yell, "Did y'all say that or not? Did y'all say that or not?" "Cuz that's what happened right f****** now."

Earlier in the evening, Kanye was partying at Delilah in WeHo with girlfriend Julia Fox. He left and drove off alone ... Julia stayed at the club.

We've reached out to Kanye's team ... so far, no word back.

Conor McGregor's popular bar in Ireland was attacked Wednesday night -- reportedly being hit by Molotov cocktails -- and now, cops say they're on the hunt for suspects.

According to The Sun, criminals threw two petrol bombs at McGregor's The Black Forge Inn in Dublin last night, and also left two pipe bombs near the watering hole's entrance as well.

A rep for McGregor tells TMZ Sports the UFC superstar was NOT inside of the building while it all went down. No word yet if he was an intended target in the attack.

"No one was impacted," the rep said, "and the pub is open and busy as always."

Ireland authorities confirmed to TMZ Sports there was "an incident of attempted criminal damage" near the Dublin pub ... but, thankfully, they added, "No damage was done to the premises."

Cops said they're now searching for any leads, and are urging any witnesses with video to contact them ASAP.

Britney Spears' ex, Jason Alexander's stalking victim claims she has a very good reason to fear him -- she told cops Alexander threatened to snap her neck.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ, the woman, who's identified as Lisa, claims Jason issued the threat last January ... saying he would break both her neck and that of her male friend.

In the docs, she says Jason approached that same guy friend in July and again threatened to snap his neck if he didn't stop texting Lisa.

It didn't end there ... Lisa filed another report in October claiming Jason came on her Tennessee property after being told he was not welcome. He allegedly admitted to following her home, claiming he was just making sure she got home safely.

According to the docs, Jason returned to Lisa's property in November and argued with her. This time she called cops, but he bounced before they arrived.

TMZ broke the story ... Jason was arrested Dec. 30 and charged with violation of a protective order and aggravated stalking. He pled guilty to misdemeanor stalking last week and is now on probation.

The protective order was issued Dec. 10 and it barred Jason from contacting Lisa -- but the new docs say he emailed her on Christmas, and also brought presents for her and her kid to the Franklin Police Department ... so cops could give them to her on his behalf.

That creepy Christmas gesture violated the protective order, and that's why he got dinged.

Jason's most famous for dating Britney back in 2004, and abruptly getting married in Las Vegas. That union lasted all of 55 hours before it was annulled.

Trey Songz is denying allegations he raped a woman in a Sin City hotel ... with his team telling us he will be exonerated after the legal process plays out.

Here's the deal ... artist Dylan Gonzalez is accusing Trey of raping her in what she calls a "well known" Las Vegas hotel and says she's weighing her legal options. A source close to Dylan tells us the incident happened several years ago.

But a rep for Trey tells TMZ ... "Trey and his team are confident in the legal process and that there will be an abundance of exonerating information to come over the next few weeks."

Dylan's legal team, attorneys Ariel Mitchell and George Vrabeck, tell TMZ ... they will consider pursuing any and all legal avenues and will take action in the next few weeks, with plans for filing a civil suit. They do not mention anything about filing a police report or criminal charges.

Dylan has a few singles out and got into music after starring on the UNLV women's basketball team.

The men who cops say gunned down Young Dolph are in custody ... after a manhunt which resulted in their arrests.

23-year-old Justin Johnson was taken in by U.S. Marshals Officers Tuesday in Indiana, he's wanted on a slew of charges out of Memphis ... including first-degree murder. 32-year-old Cornelius Smith was also booked on a first-degree murder charge Tuesday, but unclear if the Marshals or Memphis PD got him.

As we reported ... cops announced Wednesday Johnson was wanted for murdering Young Dolph ... and Johnson went on social media Saturday to announce plans to turn himself in come Monday ... which he didn't do.

FOX 13 in Memphis was first to break the news of the suspects' capture.

Johnson, who claims he is innocent, was on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Most Wanted list ... and law enforcement says he has ties to organized crime. Smith has not yet made a public statement about his involvement in the murder.

Welp, now he's got 100 of 'em -- Jay-Z is fuming the feds refuse to release to a man who's served 14 years for weed, and says one of the government's reasons for holding him ... involves a leftover prison meal.

Jay's Team Roc is taking up the cause of a guy named Valon Vailes ... who's serving a 20-year prison sentence for intent to distribute more than a ton of marijuana. Vailes, who was convicted in 2007,  reached out to Jay-Z last year asking him to help him get a reduced sentence -- but in new court docs, Team Roc says the feds won't budge over some "ticky-tac" prison offenses.

Team Roc attorney Alex Spiro says Vailes more than meets the terms for compassionate release, but in docs he says federal prosecutors won't allow it because Vailes dared to ... wait for it ... sneak some leftover chicken from the prison mess hall to his cell.

Seriously. Cold-ass chicken ... that's what we're talking about?

If that wasn't petty enough, in the docs -- obtained by TMZ -- Spiro says Vailes is also getting dinged for merely using a piece of his prison uniform as "workout equipment."

Jay and Team Roc are incensed because they say Vailes, who's now 56, has been a model inmate in every way possible -- he's earned his GED -- and has a "mentally ill" brother at home who needs a caretaker. Vailes' mother had been taking care of the brother, but she died in 2020.

In his letter to Jay, Vailes discussed his frustration with watching corporations and individuals make billions off legalized marijuana, while he rots in prison over it.

BTK killer Dennis Rader might consider himself a good person deep down -- but his appetite for grisly tales behind bars might suggest otherwise.

The infamous murderer -- who brutally took the lives of 10 people between ‘74 and ‘91 -- dishes on his favorite reading materials in some of his handwritten letters ... and his selections are pretty dark.

The correspondence, obtained by TMZ, date back to 2012 ... and in one letter Rader describes his day-to-day life in prison and the fact he was deep into a popular book that had been adapted for the big screen the previous year -- Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”

If you’re not familiar, it’s a very violent story ... chock full of murders and torture (and even rape) including one killing eerily similar to what Rader is said to have done to at least one of his victims -- tying them up and hanging their bodies in the air.

The weird reads don’t stop there -- Rader goes on to confess in his letters that he was also enjoying another book called “The Fear Index,” which is rife with murder. Like we said, he may think he’s a sweet, wholesome guy with some murderous slip-ups here and there -- but that's not at all reflected in the literature he was devouring, almost exclusively, behind bars.

There’s a lot more revealed in Rader’s letters ... like the fact he misses the smell and taste of a fresh-off-the-grill steak, one from Peter Luger’s specifically. Also, he’s a homebody ... writing he doesn’t go out to the prison yard much.

Speaking of what he calls his “cave” ... other writings from BTK paint a peculiar lifestyle, in which he says he sleeps on the floor, uses his bed as a desk, guzzles cold coffee throughout the day ... and even bird watches as a hobby. On the fitness front ... Rader says he tries exercising daily, by either running in place and/or doing multiple sets of push-ups.

DR also fancies himself an artist of sorts -- his letters are packed with sketches and doodles ... some of which you can look at above.

Robert Durst -- who was serving a life sentence for the murder of his friend, Susan Berman, after appearing to confess about it during the filming of the HBO documentary 'The Jinx' -- has died.

Durst's attorney says he died Monday morning of cardiac arrest ... though he had also recently been battling bladder cancer, among other life-threatening health issues. Durst's attorney says he was pronounced dead at San Joaquin General Hospital.

Of course, Durst recently came down with COVID-19 ... and was placed on a ventilator as a result. This came after he was found guilty by a jury of his peers, and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

As we reported ... he'd been in and out of court over the past few years for his murder trial following a 14-month break due to the pandemic. He had been accused of shooting Berman in the head at her Bev Hills home in December 2000 ... allegedly because she may have had deets about the mysterious death of his wife, Kathie, who disappeared in 1982.

You'll recall Durst was busted in 2015 just weeks after "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst" started airing on HBO ... prompting the LAPD to reopen the Berman case.

The miniseries explored bizarre and disturbing allegations against Durst and why he was alleged to have been involved in the deaths of Susan and Kathie. The doc also dove into how he was acquitted for the murder of a Texas neighbor in 2001.

The jaw-dropping moment came at the end of the documentary when Durst was caught on a hot mic seemingly confessing to the murders saying, "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course." Durst had thought his mic was turned off after excusing himself to use the bathroom.

Durst was born on April 12, 1943. His father was a wealthy New York real estate mogul and Durst, the eldest son, was the heir to that empire worth over a billion bucks. He married then-20-year-old Kathie in 1973.

A decade later ... Durst reportedly told police he dropped off Kathie at a train station in upstate NY in Westchester County and claimed he never saw her again. He reported her disappearance several days later.

Durst moved to Texas in 2000. A year later ... a torso was found and cops found garbage bags that had human limbs and other items connected to the building where Durst lived.

He was charged for the murder of his neighbor but he skipped a court date and was on the run. Authorities found him in Pennsylvania but he was ultimately found not guilty and acquitted in 2003.

Ryan Gosling portrayed Durst in the 2010 film "All Good Things." Following the release of that film, Durst hit up a filmmaker to pitch the documentary that eventually became 'The Jinx,' which aired on HBO in 2015.