Crime

Jussie Smollett is going to have to face the music after claiming he was attacked by racist, homophobic MAGA supporters -- and the City of Chicago's claim he made it all up.

The former "Empire" actor is heading to trial next month -- this after a Cook County judge shot down JS's final attempt to have the criminal case against him tossed ... setting the stage for Jussie to face a jury of his peers over the 2019 incident.

Smollett's attorney tried convincing the court that his client's rights were being violated, seeing how the guy had already forfeited his $10,000 bond and done community service ... which served as the terms he struck with Cook County prosecutors to have the charges dismissed.

Per reports, the attorney noted Smollett had held up his end of the bargain, saying ... "A deal is a deal. That's ancient principle." Not so, according to the judge -- who noted a new set of circumstances arose when a special prosecutor reopened the case ... and charged Jussie anew.

Because of that, the judge said he wouldn't tamper with the new case. As you know, Jussie faces charges of disorderly conduct for allegedly lying in the police reports about what happened to him.

As we've reported ... Jussie claimed he was jumped by two white males wearing red MAGA hats, who hurled racist and homophobic epithets at him ... poured bleach on him ... and then threw a noose around his neck. Jussie kept that noose on until cops arrived and got his story -- an interaction that their body cameras captured upon entering his Chicago apartment.

As the initial investigation unfolded, police say they found that his so-called attackers weren't white at all -- they were two Black men, the Osundairo brothers, whom knew Jussie well from working on "Empire" ... and who confessed to staging the whole thing at Jussie's behest.

There's footage of the guys buying the supplies they used that night ... and even walking past Jussie at one point on the streets. The brothers claim Jussie paid them to set up the entire attack ... something he's denied entirely at every turn, defiant to prove his innocence.

A high school football game abruptly ended Friday night after gunfire erupted and 4 people were shot.

Players from Williamson High School were on the field against rival Vigor High School at the Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama, when gunfire rang through the stadium, just before 10 PM.

Two of the 4 people shot were minors ... one person is in critical condition.

It's unclear where the shots came from, but it appears the shooter was not on the field or in the stands. As you see from the video, the players dropped to the ground and people in the stands fled ... leaving the stadium in a panic.

The shooter was not apprehended and it's unclear if police have any leads. A witness told cops 2 people and possibly more fled the stadium in a white sedan after the shooting, but it's unclear if they had anything to do with the shooting.

Gabby Petito's grieving parents paid a visit to a place their daughter visited shortly before she was murdered.

Joseph Petito posted a photo of Jenny Lake in Wyoming. The scenery is stunning ... with snowcapped mountains lining the area around a beautiful lake in Grand Teton National Park.

"I now know why you came here," Joseph wrote on Twitter. "#gabbypetito has a beautiful view from now on. Love you, and miss you."

The lake is near where Gabby's body was found. As we reported, the Teton County Coroner concluded Gabby died from manual strangulation sometime around the end of August.

Gabby's parents made the trip to recover her remains, which have been cremated. They're coming back to New York this weekend with the urn.

Brian Laundrie has still not been named a suspect in Gabby's death, although that seems to be more for strategic reasons. He is wanted for fraud, which would allow authorities to arrest him.  He's not been seen for a month, and the area authorities have been searching has not produced a single shred of evidence.

Celebrity dermatologist Dr. Alex Khadavi just got slapped with a restraining order in the latest fallout from his homophobic rant caught on video ... he's gotta stay away from the people who accused him of making death threats.

According to new legal docs ... the gay married couple who claim they were on the receiving end of Khadavi's threatening rant is getting court-ordered protection.

The docs, obtained by TMZ, show that Khadavi is banned from harassing, intimidating, attacking, striking, stalking, threatening, assaulting, hitting, abusing, destroying personal property or disturbing the peace of the couple, who live in his building.

Khadavi, whose celeb clients have included Lance Bass and Scott Disick, has also been ordered to stay at least 100 yards away from them anywhere outside of the West Hollywood condo building where they all live.

TMZ broke the story ... Khadavi's rant on July 7 was captured on video, which appears to show him approaching the front desk concierge in a hostile manner, talking smack about people who live in the building, referring to them with the homophobic f-word, and threatening to "blow their f***ing heads off."

The restraining order will be in place for the next 3 years, ending in October 2024.

Agnes Tirop, an elite Kenyan long-distance runner who finished 4th at the Tokyo Olympics, was tragically found stabbed to death in her home, according to a Kenyan athletic commission.

She was only 25 years old.

According to reports, police are actively looking for Agnes' husband who hasn't been seen since her death.

The BBC is reporting Agnes' father called police Tuesday night, worried he could not reach his daughter.

Sadly, when police arrived at her home in Iten, Kenya, they found Tirop laying in bed, surrounded by a pool of blood, according to the UK outlet.

Police say the runner had what looked like a stab wound to her neck ... and that's what they believe caused her death. She also reportedly had a stab wound to her stomach.

Agnes' husband was not at the home when they arrived ... and has not been heard from since authorities arrived on the scene.

Tirop was one of the best long-distance runners in the world. In fact, just last month she set a women's world record at a 10-kilometer race in Germany. Agnes also took home bronze medals at the World Athletic Championships in 2017 and 2019.

"Athletics Kenya are distraught to learn about the untimely death of World 10,000m bronze medallist Agnes Tirop," the country's athletics body said in a statement.

Everyone from Adidas to Kenya's president weighed in on the tragic loss.

"It is unsettling, utterly unfortunate and very sad that we've lost a young and promising athlete who, at a young age of 25 years, had brought our country so much glory," Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya's president said in a statement.

"The Adidas family is deeply saddened by the tragic news about Agnes Jebet Tirop. Agnes was an incredible person, a record-breaking athlete and a beloved member of our family. She will be greatly missed by us all and her legacy will forever live on in our memory," the sportswear giant tweeted.

Rest in peace.

Dog the Bounty Hunter and John Walsh are getting hammered by the Brian Laundrie family attorney, who says both men are inserting themselves in the Gabby Petito case purely for attention.

Steven Bertolino represents the Laundries and tells TMZ ... "Dusty relics like that Dog and John Walsh need a tragic situation like this so they can clear the cobwebs off their names and give their publicity hungry egos some food."

As we've told you ... Dog joined the manhunt for Brian last month, trekking through some rugged terrain in remote sections of Florida and even injured his ankle in the process.

The search has gotten him a lot of attention, and Dog's seen TV offers start rolling in, with multiple networks showing interest in resurrecting a show with him.

We also asked Bertolino if he feels Dog is impeding the official investigation, by showing up unannounced at Brian's sister's house ... and he said, "That's for law enforcement to determine."

As for John ... the "America's Most Wanted" host has a new TV special about the Petito case and the search for Brian.

The cemetery accused in a viral video of burying bodies on top of each other insists there's no nefarious tale from the crypt going on, because it's not what it looks like on camera.

Here's the deal ... a woman visiting her sister's plot at Laurel Grove Cemetery in New Jersey posted a video showing what appeared to be a fresh mound of dirt over her loved one's grave. She blasted the cemetery, accusing it of doubling up, and using the plot for someone else too.

Jessica Tawil, who posted the video that's making the rounds on TikTok, says the incident happened Monday, and she claims there was an extremely foul odor coming from the pile of dirt on her family's $12,000 plot, which she believes had been disturbed.

However, Laurel Grove Cemetery tells TMZ ... the video really just shows their process for routine maintenance on plots -- soil gets placed on the area before it's leveled, covered with topsoil, seeded and then covered with hay to protect the seed.

The family isn't buying that, and says they're exploring legal action and want to get the gravesite formally inspected. They claim they filed 2 reports with cops.

Dog the Bounty Hunter hasn't given up his hunt for Brian Laundrie -- he's got one more vital person to speak with -- and he's en route to her now.

Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ ... Dog has NOT left Florida yet -- despite injuring his ankle earlier this week -- and is still working leads. We're told he's currently headed to the home of Laundrie's sister, Cassie, with whom he will attempt to discuss the case.

Earlier this month ... Cassie confronted a group of protesters outside her Florida home and told them she doesn't have the slightest clue where Brian's hiding, but added she wasn't sure if her parents had anything to do with his disappearance.

Our sources say Dog is still hobbling around on that bum ankle, but wants to make sure he's tried every possible avenue to locate Laundrie ... before heading to Colorado to get checked out by his doctor. As we reported, Dog hurt his ankle a couple of days ago in rugged terrain.

The Cassie meeting would come just a day after an autopsy report revealed Gabby Petito died by strangulation. The Teton County Coroner estimated the time she was killed might have been 3 to 4 weeks before her remains were found.

Gabby's family is heading to Wyoming to retrieve her body, and have her cremated.

Mona Rodriguez was shot in the head by a school resource officer while fleeing the scene of a fight -- unarmed, no less -- and now that she's died ... her family is seeking accountability.

Oscar and Iran Rodriguez -- Mona's older brothers -- came on "TMZ Live" Wednesday to discuss this tragic story that went down in Long Beach, CA. Mona had gotten into a fight, and while attempting to leave the scene in her boyfriend's car ... a campus cop who'd responded decided to open fire on them.

One of the bullets Eddie Gonzalez fired struck Mona in the head ... leaving her hospitalized on life support. After doctors determined Mona was brain dead, the life support was turned off -- and now the Rodriguez brothers find themselves in a nightmarish battle to get any measure of justice.

As they explained to us, they feel they're getting the cold shoulder from Long Beach officials, including Mayor Robert Garcia, as well as L.A. County District Attorney George Gascon.

As they say, they just want answers ... and more importantly, they want justice for their slain sibling, who leaves behind an infant child -- now in the care of their mother.

Oscar and Iran have been outspoken since the killing, calling for the arrest of Gonzalez -- who's since been fired from his job with the school district -- but to this point, all they know is Long Beach PD is investigating Mona's death as a homicide.

The brothers made it clear they want the D.A. to charge Gonzalez with Mona's murder.

Ex-Portland Trail Blazers president and current Jordan Brand chairman Larry Miller is sharing his darkest secret with the world ... admitting he killed a man when he was 16 years old, and hid it from his closest friends -- including Michael Jordan -- until recently.

Miller detailed the September 1965 incident in an interview with Sports Illustrated this week ... saying he was a "gangbanger" seeking retaliation after a friend was stabbed and killed in West Philadelphia ... so he downed a bottle of wine, grabbed his gun and went on the hunt for a rival gang member.

Miller says he ended up shooting and killing the first person he saw -- 18-year-old Edward White -- despite not knowing if the man was even involved in his friend's killing.

"That’s what makes it even more difficult for me, because it was for no reason at all," Miller told the outlet. "I mean, there was no valid reason for this to happen. And that’s the thing that I really struggle with and that's -- you know, it’s the thing that I think about every day."

"It’s like, I did this, and to someone who -- it was no reason to do it. And that’s the part that really bothers me."

Miller was arrested shortly after ... and ended up spending many years behind bars until he was 30.

Once he got out, Miller then became a massive success in the business industry -- he was hired by Nike in 1997 and served as Jordan Brand's president from 1999-2006 before joining the Blazers. He later returned to his previous position with Nike/Jordan in 2012

Miller says he's spent the past few months slowly sharing his secret with his inner circle ... and from MJ to NBA commissioner Adam Silver, the responses he's received have been positive.

Now, Miller is hoping to use his story to leave a positive impact on today's youth ... and is fighting to get second chances to those who also fell on hard times.

Gabby Petito's body has been held and studied for a month to determine how she died -- and now that we know, her family is finally allowed to go get her and lay her to rest.

The late 22-year-old's parents are reportedly heading to Wyoming Wednesday morning from the east coast -- where they'll retrieve her remains, have her cremated ... and then return to New York this weekend with her ashes.

It also sounds like law enforcement will brief her mom, father and stepfather on the latest updates in the case.

The family has reportedly said they won't be commenting on anything to the media until they're back in NY -- although, Gabby's mother did speak out against the Laundrie family lawyer Tuesday after he called her death a "tragedy" upon release of the autopsy findings.

You'll recall ... the Teton County coroner publicly announced Gabby's cause of death, which took quite a long time to conclusively uncover. Turns out, she was manually strangled to death at the hands of a person.

The coroner noted that Gabby's homicide seemed to be carried out in "a lot of anger" -- while also pointing out her body had been left out in the wilderness for at least 3 for 4 weeks before she was finally found last month.

Of course, the one person law enforcement still wants to talk to -- but can't seem to find -- is Gabby's fiance, Brian Laundrie ... who's considered to be the prime person of interest in the case, and one of the last people to have seen her alive.

The couple was traveling cross-country together through much of the summer, and had squabbles along the way -- most notably in August, when cops in Moab, Utah responded to a report Brian had struck Gabby.

Gabby Petito's cause of death is about to be revealed after weeks of waiting on a coroner's findings -- and TMZ is streaming the highly anticipated results live.

The autopsy report is being discussed Tuesday during a press conference and comes several weeks after investigators found her remains at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming last month.

As you know by now, the coroner ruled her death a homicide.

Now, the last pieces of the puzzle in this tragedy are finally coming together -- and may very well back up what her family suspected all along ... that she was brutalized, and left out in the wilderness to perish.

Of course, the one answer that remains elusive ... who's responsible, and obviously why? The prime person of interest is Gabby's fiance, Brian Laundrie, who has gone missing and for whom a manhunt has been launched.

Laundrie remains unaccounted for, despite a handful of alleged sightings in different parts of the country.

There was a suspected sighting nearly 500 miles away from where he was living in North Port, FL -- with a man claiming to have spotted somebody on his deer cam who looked like Brian -- but cops have said they have no reason to believe, for now, Brian's in the area.

Most recently a hiker claimed to have seen Brian on the Appalachian Trail ... but nothing concrete there either. Dog the Bounty Hunter also joined the nationwide manhunt.

As we reported ... Dog's hitting the pause button on his search -- this after injuring himself on the job.

As for Laundrie's family ... they say he went hiking sometime in mid-September, but never returned. This follows an already incredibly suspicious return back to Florida without any trace of Gabby. Her family's blasted Brian and his family for clamming up on providing answers.

The feds issued an arrest warrant for Laundrie but NOT for Gabby's death -- it was for Use of Unauthorized Access Devices. Prosecutors claimed Laundrie used a Capital One Bank debit card from August 30 to Sept. 1 to purchase stuff totaling at least $1,000.

The feds haven't said it was Gabby's card, but that doesn't seem like much of a leap.

Just a few days later ... the FBI visited the Laundrie residence to retrieve some personal items in hopes they might have his DNA on them.

One thing we do know about Gabby and Brian's recent past is that they had a confrontation in Utah ... something that was briefly investigated by a police officer, who recorded one of the final images of her alive, and crying.

And, a witness called 911 shortly before Gabby's disappearance, telling the dispatcher he saw Brian slap and hit Gabby during an argument.

Now, we're going to learn what happened to her after that ... once and for all.

The new 'Halloween' flick features a frighteningly inspired performance from James Jude Courtney, who leaned on an old friend/real-life murderer to pick up tips on playing the legendary villain behind the mask.

The "Halloween Kills" star joined us Tuesday on "TMZ Live" to reveal part of his process to portray Michael Myers -- something James has done more than anyone else -- and it was downright chilling.

He told us he prepped for one of his very first killer roles by living in a psych ward with paranoid schizophrenics who had killed people ... but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Later in his career, James says he lived with a guy who had done hard time for murders -- he'd been a hitman -- but apparently wanted to moonlight as an acting coach.

James told us his killer roommate actually critiqued one of his movies, and told him how to make his character more believable, more realistic. That sounds great for James' acting career, but there's still the matter of actually LIVING under the same roof as a cold-blooded killer!!!

Chris Pearson's death was the result of someone losing it on him for being loud and disruptive in his apartment complex in the middle of the night ... sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ.

Our sources say the former "Ex on the Beach" star was down in the pool area with his girlfriend, making a lot of noise around 2 AM Sunday.  We're told Chris was yelling ... it's unclear at who, but it pissed off the other residents who were trying to sleep.

We're told Chris ignored everyone, but then someone on one of the balconies amped things up and was yelling hard at Chris, who in turn started screaming back at the guy. Our sources say Chris went inside the building to confront the guy ... and that's when he was fatally stabbed in the area around his heart.

Our sources say the guy who stabbed him fled before authorities arrived.

As we first told you ... Chris was rushed to a hospital, but died around 3:30 AM from his injuries.

According to our sources ... Chris was not normally a confrontational guy, but that wasn't the case during the incident.

Law enforcement sources tell us ... cops are investigating and looking for witnesses and videos that may help them figure out what went down, but so far no arrests have been made. Our law enforcement sources say cops are confident they'll catch the guy.

Dog the Bounty Hunter's leaving Florida empty-handed and hurt-footed after spending more than 2 weeks hunting for Brian Laundrie ... TMZ has learned.

A rep for Dog tells TMZ ... he injured his ankle in rugged terrain during his search for Gabby Petito's fiance -- still the main person of interest in her death.

We're told the notorious bounty hunter wants to see his regular doctor in Colorado for his injury ... so he's heading back there now.

Dog's rep says he's not giving up on his mission just yet though -- he's still raising funds to help the team he's put together to continue searching for Laundrie.

We're told the team consists of a talented group of Florida locals who will continue the manhunt ... and Dog will stay connected and keep going after leads as much as he can in CO.

As we reported ... Dog joined the extensive search for Laundrie in late Sept. and claimed he was hot on his tail, only to leave everyone waiting for an actual capture.

He certainly seemed dead set on finding him though ... wading through a swamp to track a lead and even cancelling a public appearance to focus more on the search.

Scratch CMT off the list of possible landing spots for Dog the Bounty Hunter's return to TV ... despite his history with the channel.

Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ .... Dog hasn't made a pitch of a Brian Laundrie show to CMT just yet, but it sounds like he shouldn't waste his time, because we're told the network would not be interested.

One reason for passing ... we're told CMT has a renewed commitment to country music programming -- it's in the name after all -- so the network would likely not be doing another series with Dog in the future.

Dog fans will recall ... he did a spinoff show with CMT, "Dog and Beth: On the Hunt," debuting in 2013 and running 3 seasons until 2015, after which Beth announced they were leaving CMT programming.

TMZ broke the story ... Dog has TV offers rolling in now that he's on the hunt for Brian as part of the Gabby Petito case, with multiple networks expressing interest in resurrecting a show with him as the star.

As we've seen, Dog's been willing to get dirty on the manhunt for Brian -- but so far, he hasn't found the guy or a home for his show.

Dog's OG show aired on A&E, but that network's already passed on his Brian Laundrie show pitch.