Crime

The men already charged for the alleged murder of Ahmaud Arbery are now facing federal charges as well -- the U.S. Dept. of Justice just slapped them with hate crimes.

The U.S. DOJ announced Wednesday Travis and Gregory McMichael, as well as William "Roddie" Bryan, were indicted by a federal grand jury on multiple charges ... including interference with rights and attempted kidnapping.

The McMichaels face even more counts -- using, carrying and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. Travis was also indicted for discharging the firearm ... a Remington shotgun, according to prosecutors.

As it relates to the kidnapping claims -- the feds allege all 3 men attempted to unlawfully seize and confine Ahmaud by chasing after him in their trucks. Prosecutors claim they did this in an attempt to restrain him, restrict his free movement, corral and detain him against his will ... all while Ahmaud was running down a public street in Brunswick, GA.

The feds say Gregory McMichael also brandished a .357 Magnum revolver during the chaos.

The indictment also notes the McMichaels and Bryan are currently facing murder charges at the state level ... which is a separate case from these federal charges.

Ahmaud's mother, Wanda Cooper, tells TMZ she's grateful for the federal charges ... especially since this wasn't even a possible outcome not too long ago in the state of Georgia. It's only because of a new law they passed there last year that this could become a reality.

Bombshell revelation from Canelo Alvarez ... the boxing superstar says his brother was kidnapped in Mexico in 2018 -- and he was the one who was forced to negotiate with the scumbags for 3 DAYS to bring him home.

The 30-year-old broke it all down on "In Depth with Graham Bensinger" during an interview that will air in its entirety this weekend ... explaining just days before his '18 fight against Rocky Fielding, he got some terrifying news.

Canelo says shortly after he landed in New York for the fight, he was told one of his older brothers had been abducted.

And, in the days and hours leading up to the tilt with Fielding, Canelo says he had to make the deals to ensure his bro's safe return.

"Over the phone, I negotiated all the -- I negotiated everything for his release," Canelo told Bensinger in Spanish.

"For three days, I negotiated with those a**holes so they would let him go. Three days!"

Fortunately, Canelo says his brother was returned safely ... and Alvarez was still able to go out and dominate Fielding, scoring a 3rd round TKO.

Canelo did not reveal the terms of the deal they made with his brother's captures.

But, there's more ... Canelo believes crooked cops in Mexico may have played a role in the kidnapping -- and says the entire thing has him concerned about his and his family's safety in his home country.

In fact, Alvarez was very critical of Mexican leaders when talking with Bensinger ... saying the government and law enforcement are doing a "very bad" job.

He added, "This is why I'm not here in Mexico much anymore, because it's not safe."

Canelo says he wishes his home country would create more strict laws and punishments to help make the place safer for all.

One of the jurors on Derek Chauvin's trial says there was no pressure to reach a guilty verdict -- but does explain the most difficult part of the job ... seeing the videos on replay.

Brandon Mitchell -- Juror #52 on the case -- did an early blitz of interviews Wednesday morning ... sitting down with 'CBS This Morning' and 'Good Morning America.' He offered interesting insights on both, but told CBS what everyone's been wanting to know.

Gayle King asked Mitchell if he or his peers felt heat from the public to deliver guilty verdicts on all counts -- especially 2nd-degree murder, the heaviest of charges -- but he tells her straight up ... nope. He admits there was stress, but not the kind you might expect.

Watch for yourself ... sounds like the jurors stomachs turned every time they had to watch George Floyd die -- which happened countless times throughout the 3-week proceedings. You can also tell Mitchell took a lot of what was discussed at trial personally ... as he himself is a tall Black man, similar in stature to Floyd.

Robin Roberts asked another lingering question ... how were they able to reach consensus so quickly, and were there any holdouts??? Mitchell spilled on that as well -- and, surprisingly, he tells her there weren't any major hang-ups ... except on how to interpret the instructions.

Mitchell explains that once they went around the room and read the instructions back multiple times over ... the one juror who was hesitant finally came around, and the rest is history.

Antonio Brown is officially returning to Tampa ... the star receiver re-signed with the Buccaneers on Wednesday morning, just 1 week after settling his sexual assault case.

Brown was a key part of Tampa's Super Bowl-winning team in 2020 -- he caught a TD in the title game against the Chiefs -- and he had been campaigning for a 2021 return.

And, after AB struck a settlement last week with the woman who had accused him of a 2018 rape, the Bucs clearly felt comfortable bringing the 32-year-old back.

The deal is a one-year contract worth up to $6.25 million, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported. The agreement also includes a $2 million signing bonus, Pelissero added.

Brown -- who released a joint statement with his accuser, Britney Taylor, last week saying "Their dispute is resolved and they wish each other great continued success" -- played in 8 games for the Bucs last season.

Police body cam footage shows Houston Rockets player Sterling Brown bleeding profusely from his head in the moments after he was attacked outside a strip club in Miami ... and the footage is tough to watch.

As we previously reported, Brown was hospitalized with serious injuries on April 19 after he was reportedly attacked with a liquor bottle outside the Booby Trap strip club.

Brown suffered major lacerations on his face and head, according to The Athletic, which also claims there was a serious concern for his life.

Now, reporter Andy Slater has obtained police body cam footage showing the moment officers arrived at the scene ... and you can clearly see Brown covered in blood.

The footage, which does not include audio, also shows Brown's teammate, Kevin Porter, Jr., apparently trying to explain the situation to officers and paramedics.

The whole incident was over a vehicle mix-up -- Brown accidentally got into the wrong sprinter van on his way out of the club ... and the people inside decided to beat the hell out of him.

Brown is reportedly out of the hospital ... but it sounds like it could be a while before he returns to the court.

The man charged with breaking into Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during the Capitol riots insists he wasn't calling her a "bitch" on paper -- he was just calling her his "biatch" ... so it's not nearly as bad as the feds are making it sound.

Richard Barnett is set to appear Tuesday in court to make that very argument for why he isn't a dangerous threat ... and should be cut loose pending trial. But, before he tells it to the judge, his attorneys filed docs, explaining this sort of slang defense.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Barnett's lawyers say prosecutors' claim he wrote "Nancy, Bigo was here, you bitch" on a sheet of paper on her desk is false. Instead, they assert he wrote ... "Hey Nancy Bigo was here biatd." To them, that last word was supposed to be, "biatch." If nothing else, he's guilty of poor penmanship.

The attorneys argue Barnett combined the "c" and the "h" at the end there -- and that he was going for the slang version of "bitch" ... which they note is not as offensive, and might even be considered endearing in some contexts.

Basically, his attorneys are saying he was just clowning around -- and didn't actually intend to harm and/or threaten her ... despite making himself at home and having his run of the place.

Barnett was previously denied bail ... but a lot of alleged Capitol rioters have been released from jail since then, based on rulings they do not pose flight risks or other dangers. With that in mind, Barnett's lawyers are hoping to get their client out ASAP.

"Seeking Sister Wife" star Dimitri Snowden could be in hot water ... 'cause one of the women on the show is accusing him of domestic abuse ... according to new legal docs.

Christeline Petersen filed a restraining order against Dimitri claiming he's been physically abusive during their relationship over the last year ... to the point it's even scared her 2 young daughters.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, Christeline says back in January she was woken up one day by him "slamming my head into the headboard of the bed and he was yelling at me." She went on to claim Dimitri slammed her head on the headboard several times. She says she filed a police report.

What's more ... she claims Dimitri was abusive during sex. She says "he choked me during sex, even though I told him not to." She added, "The more I struggled the more he enjoyed it." Christeline says her only choice was to go along with it.

She claims, "I stopped saying no after a few times, because any struggle by me would prolong the sex and choking." Christeline claims things got so out of hand one time she got very dizzy and felt like she was going to pass out. She says she suffered bruises, scratches and redness around her neck from the alleged attack.

Christeline, who came to the U.S. from South Africa to be courted as a third wife on the TLC reality show, beelined it to court and the judge granted her a restraining order. Dimitri must stay at least 100 yards away from her and her 2 daughters because she says they are afraid of him "as he often yells and punches the walls or furniture."

We've reached out to Dimitri and TLC, so far no word back.

Andrew Brown Jr.'s family has finally seen the police body cam video of his fatal shooting at the hands of deputies in North Carolina ... and they're outraged by what they describe as an "execution."

Family members and their attorneys were enraged after the meeting with the Pasquotank County Sheriff and the County Attorney -- not only because of the content of the video, but because they were only shown a "snippet" ... 20 seconds of one deputy's body cam.

The family had demanded to see all of the full, raw video available to the Sheriff's Office, but instead, they saw the brief clip, which they say had blurred the faces of deputies.

Adding to their anger is the fact they were only shown a single deputy's body cam. Their attorneys say the 20-second clip made it clear there were 7 to 8 other deputies on the scene ... whose body cam's presumably show more of the deadly incident.

Bakari Sellers, one of the family's attorneys, says the County Attorney disrespected him and the family before the viewing by saying he "was not going to be f**king bullied."

As brief as the video was ... the Browns say it showed a lot. For instance, one family attorney says the clip begins with Andrew Brown sitting in his car in his driveway -- blocked in by cops -- with his hands on his steering wheel as several different deputies demand to see his hands.

The family says Andrew was getting shot at by multiple cops -- and they couldn't keep track of how many shots rang out. They say Andrew tried backing out of the driveway to escape the gunfire, but slammed into a tree. The Browns describe seeing Glocks and assault rifles on the scene ... and even some evidence shots were fired before the video started. They say they weren't shown anything that led up to the chaos.

The lawyers and the family are emphatic ... they believe the County is trying to hide something, and that the officers involved need to be arrested immediately.

Brown's family retained several attorneys, including Sellers, Ben Crump and Harry Daniels. They've all been very vocal about demanding transparency ... something they feel, more than ever, they're not getting after viewing the brief clip.

Brown was gunned down last Wednesday when the sheriff's office was executing a search warrant.

The mayor there, Bettie Parker, has declared a state of emergency ahead of expected unrest and demonstrations ... which will presumably give them access to state and federal resources. Folks have already taken to the streets over the past several days.

Attorney Bakari Sellers is fired up over the delay in releasing the body cam footage that shows the police killing of Andrew Brown Jr. ... and he's fed up with Congress, too.

Sellers, who along with Ben Crump and Harry Daniels, is representing Brown's family ... is in North Carolina waiting to see the police video of what happened to Brown Jr. last Wednesday ... when the 42-year-old was shot in the back and killed by deputies during the execution of a search warrant.

Sellers says he was promised to be shown the footage earlier on Monday, but it hasn't happened yet ... allegedly because the authorities want to redact portions of it.

The attorney clearly isn't happy about that, but he's on a mission to use the situation to take on the system as a whole. Instead of protesting, he wants people to pick up the phone and call their elected officials.

Specifically, Sellers calls out Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema for not signing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act ... something he feels is an important step to ending police killings of Black men in America.

Brown was fatally shot by cops last week in Elizabeth City, where witnesses say he was driving away when deputies opened fire on him. After the shooting, 7 deputies were placed on administrative leave and 3 resigned.

Caitlyn Jenner is wasting no time sharing where she stands on important issues, but her views on prison reform stand in stark contrast to the work Kim Kardashian's done for years ... and Kim's not happy about it.

Caitlyn tweeted, "Gavin’s District Attorneys across California are releasing dangerous criminals back on to our streets. Enough is enough. #RecallGavin" in response to a story about a 7-month-old who was killed by a man who was allegedly arrested twice this year for domestic violence but released.

Sources connected to Kim and Caitlyn tell us the two have had plenty of private conversations about prison reform over the years ... and we're told Kim was not only disappointed, but disturbed by what Caitlyn wrote.

As you know, Kim's been a passionate advocate for prison reform, and even worked with former President Trump to get the job done. However, we're told she believes Caitlyn's "tough on crime" mindset -- reminiscent of Trump's -- only hurts communities because it costs taxpayers more and fails to address the underlying reasons why people commit crime.

Our sources say Kim's a big supporter of Governor Newsom's approach of rehabilitating and offering reentry support to those coming out of prison as well as investing in crime prevention.

One thing to note, Newsom doesn't appoint District Attorneys, they're elected -- a point Congressman Ted Lieu made to Caitlyn, and something she says she already knew.

TMZ broke the story ... Kim, Kourtney and Khloe have no plans to endorse Caitlyn in her bid for CA Governor. Our sources say it's a combo of Caitlyn's politics and divorce from Kris Jenner that drove them away.

John Keller -- a 20-year-old quarterback for the Central Michigan Univ. football team -- was shot Saturday morning ... and his family says he's now "fighting for his life" at a hospital.

Police say Keller was involved in a dispute at a party near the CMU campus at around 1 AM Saturday when he was struck by gunfire.

The QB was rushed to the hospital in "serious condition," according to the Isabella County Sheriff's Office.

The gunman, meanwhile, fled the scene and is still at large, cops say.

Keller's family and friends said in a GoFundMe set up on Sunday to help cover the cost of the quarterback's medical bills that Keller was shot in the chest and "remains in critical condition."

Officials added in an update Sunday afternoon that Keller -- and another CMU student who was shot during the altercation -- were "recovering."

Cops say they are still searching for the shooter ... and are asking anyone with information to call 989-773-1000.

Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello's neighbors in the Hollywood Hills are spending big on increased security after a break-in at the celeb couple's home ... even adding armed guards.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Shawn and Camila's neighbors are dropping thousands of dollars on new security systems in the wake of last month's break-in, and others are signing up for a program offering armed, former law enforcement officers on patrol.

We're told folks who live near Shawn and Camila are spending $5,000 to $10,000 on new security cameras with floodlight censors designed to scare off burglars before they get too close for comfort.

As we first told you ... Shawn and Camila were inside their Hollywood Hills home last month when crooks broke in and took off with Shawn's Mercedes G-Wagon SUV.

Since the break-in, we're told neighbors are signing up for the armed guard service ... it costs $100 per month and the guards escort residents to their doors, check on properties when folks are on vacation and work closely with the LAPD and alarm companies.

We're told the neighborhood association launched a similar pilot program last summer in the ritzy bird streets above the Sunset Strip -- home to Ariana Grande, Leonardo DiCaprio and Bobby Flay -- and residents there saw a significant dip in crime.

The Academy Awards are being held at a famous L.A. train station this year -- and while that might satisfy COVID needs ... it's also become a dangerous place for the Oscars crew.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... a man was arrested Sunday morning at Union Station, where the Oscars are set to take place later this evening. We're told the guy tried running past security and breaking into a secured area ... and even pushed past a guard.

Our sources say the dude was detained by security ... and was eventually booked for battery by the LAPD. It might sound like an isolated incident and just a one-off ... but we're hearing that's far from the reality ... there was at least one other violent run-in this week.

We've heard that as crew members were setting up for the big award show over the past several days ... one of those people was actually mugged by somebody in the area. Sources close to the production tell us the guy ended up getting jacked ... and the suspect fled.

It's unclear if that person was caught or not -- but it's just another example of why it might've not have been the greatest idea to host the Oscars at Union Station this year.

Our law enforcement sources tell us this is, indeed, a high-crime area -- Union Station's right in the heart of DTLA -- and sketchy stuff like this goes down often. With more foot traffic than usual ... we're told that could naturally lead to more targets, which is exactly what appears to have happened.

A 17-year-old boy with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was punched in the head by a cop, who threatened even more punishment.

The incident went down Wednesday in Vacaville, California. Cops responded to a call of a possible stabbing or assault with either a pipe or a knife and found Preston on his scooter.  Preston was allegedly in a scuffle with a neighbor and picked up the alleged weapon but no one was injured.

In the video, you see the officer toss Preston's scooter to the side and order the teen to sit.  He gets in Preston's face and the boy then gets up and tries to run. The cop grabs him, yanks him to the ground and delivers a punch to the head.

You hear Preston scream, "You punched me in the f***ing head." The officer responds ... "You're gonna get hurt. Don't make me hurt you more. Don't make me hurt you more."

Preston's dad, Adam Wolf, posted this ... "The officer screamed at him to sit down which he did. The officer then moved Aggressively toward my son, threw his scooter and got in his face. My son became fearful, as would any child with Autism. The officer went to touch Preston, at which point Preston moves away.  At this point, Preston was confused and afraid and moves away from the officer even more."

Adam goes on ...  At that point the officer felt it was a good idea to THROW Preston to the ground ... I don't believe that Preston will ever trust a police officer again. I am pro police, but I am not pro ABUSE! This individual and department must be held accountable for their actions. NO child, disability or not, deserves to be treated like this."

Police detained Preston for an hour ... he was cited and released.

A woman got a blast from the past in the worst possible way -- learning of embezzlement charges against her ... all 'cause she supposedly never returned a rented tape in the '90s.

This story comes out of Oklahoma -- where Caron McBride told KOKH FOX25 she'd recently stumbled across a stunning discovery re: her criminal record -- namely, that she was wanted for felony embezzlement because she never returned a VHS movie from 1999.

The film in question is "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" ... and prosecutors say she rented it from a video store called Movie Place ... which ain't a thing anymore. Because the movie never made it back to its rightful owner, the Cleveland County District Attorney's Office filed the embezzlement charge in 2000, and it's been sitting ever since.

McBride says she was never aware of the charge, or the fact that she'd even rented that movie. As a result, the charge has been sitting in limbo, with her wanted by authorities. McBride says she only became aware of it after trying to change her surname at the DMV.

She says she tried clearing it up with the D.A.'s office, but it took a while before they ultimately decided to dismiss the charges against her. Thing is, she's still gotta get that charge expunged from her record -- which will undoubtedly be another pain in the ass.

The man who was arrested and charged for a drive-by shooting of "Duck Dynasty" star Willie Robertson's house is now suing Willie and his family, claiming he was wrongfully arrested ... and defamed by the family.

This is a strange one, for sure, but Daniel Dean King is suing Willie, Willie's son John Luke Robertson, and John's wife Mary Kate ... alleging he's suffered from being incarcerated and took an unfair hit to his reputation.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, King says John and Mary reported they were targets of a drive-by shooting on April 24, 2020 while they were home with their child -- which led to King's arrest -- but he claims their statements to cops were "calculated, false and ultimately defamatory."

According to the suit, King claims the cops did not properly investigate the case before arresting him, and wrongly -- he believes -- charging him with felony aggravated assault by drive-by shooting.

Despite his allegations in the lawsuit, there's still an active criminal case against King -- and according to the 4th Judicial District DA's Office ... the charge against him has been changed to felony illegal use of a dangerous weapon.

King -- who appears to have filed the suit without a lawyer -- goes on to accuse Willie and John of publicizing his arrest and making defamatory statements, which he claims were intended to hurt his rep.

Along with suing Willie's family for damages, he's going after Robertson's Duck Commander company and the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office too.

As we first told you ... when King was arrested, he allegedly admitted to police he was the shooter and told them he "had been drinking Vodka during this incident." The Robertsons were also granted a restraining order against him. So, his lawsuit reads like a desperate attempt to get some revenge on the family.