Crime

Alec Baldwin says he didn't pull the trigger on the gun that killed Halyna Hutchins, the first time we've heard him make the new claim, and leaving many more questions to be answered.

The actor is speaking out about the 'Rust' tragedy in his first sit-down interview, which will air Thursday on ABC. The network just released a teaser for what is to be discussed, and there's a lot to unpack -- including his claim that he didn't squeeze the trigger.

In a nearly 2 minute clip, you hear anchor George Stephanopoulos peppering Baldwin with questions -- and it sounds like he's asking everything that most everybody has wondered about this story ... and Alec seems to respond to much of it, oftentimes in emotional terms.

One question revolves around the alleged fact that Alec pulling the trigger during the rehearsal that day was not called for in the script ... at least according to people who've sued over this so far.

Immediately in response, Alec is heard saying ... "Well, the trigger wasn't pulled. I didn't pull the trigger." GS seems stunned, but AB insists he'd never point a gun at someone and fire. Of course, this would mean Baldwin is suggesting the gun misfired on its own.

There's not much clarity on what Alec means exactly -- but we suppose everyone will get the answer when this chat hits the airwaves tomorrow.

An Indiana cop captured on video kicking a dog on someone's front porch will not be prosecuted ... and his bosses say that's due to the full picture of what happened.

The disturbing video was posted this week by a woman who wrote, "Yesterday evening while my family and I were at work, someone broke into my home. My dogs ran the intruder off. This was the response shortly after a neighbor called. My home needed help and all it received was hurt."

Of course, outrage ensued ... and many were calling for the officer's badge number, not to mention his job. On its face, it looks like the cop is just going to town on the unleashed dog, which was barking at him.

Well, apparently there's more to the story. Terre Haute PD tells TMZ neighbors had been calling about this dog and another from this home constantly being on the loose and attacking people, including kids.

On this particular night, Nov. 29, they got a call about a white pit bull on the loose in the neighborhood -- just the latest call for this exact thing, they say. Officers came out, and THPD says they actually encountered 2 dogs -- including the one seen in this video -- which were allegedly lunging at the officers.

After talking to neighbors about how the dogs escaped their backyard, THPD says this sergeant walked onto the porch ... and that's where the video picks begins. The owners apparently weren't home, so the officers waited ... and then cited the owners when they eventually arrived, ringing 'em up for 6 separate counts related to the dogs being loose.

As for what happens now ... well, THPD says the Virgo County Prosecutor's Office has already reviewed the case, and found the cop didn't violate any laws. Still, the department says it's conducting its own review, and the cop is on leave for now.

Vivica A. Fox is a ride or die friend, because she made it clear Tuesday night ... she stands by Jussie Smollett in bad times as well as good.

Vivica was at the TCL Chinese Theatre for the premiere of her movie, "True to the Game 3." Our photog asked about her ties with Jussie, and Vivica showed Smollett mad love.

What's interesting ... she never said if she believed he was actually attacked on the streets of Chicago back in 2019. Clearly, prosecutors don't believe him, because he's currently on trial for allegedly staging the incident. He's charged with 6 felonies and could be sent to prison for years if convicted.

A jury has been selected and testimony has begun. It's unclear if Jussie will take the stand in his own defense. Typically, defendants in criminal cases stay mum, but this case almost demands Jussie tell the jury his version of what happened.

Chris Cuomo will be off the air for the foreseeable future on CNN's airwaves -- the cable news network just suspended the guy ... all over his efforts to protect his brother.  The question ... does Chris survive this at CNN?

CNN just announced they're benching Chris indefinitely over newly released evidence put out by the New York Attorney General's Office, which shows purported texts Chris sent to people on Andrew Cuomo's team in the middle of his sexual harassment scandal.

They say the new transcripts and exhibits that were dumped Monday "shed new light on Chris Cuomo's involvement in his brother's defense. The documents, which we were not privy to before their public release, raise serious questions."

CNN goes on to add Chris told them he admitted he'd offered advice to his brother's staff, breaking their rules ... which the network acknowledged publicly some time ago.

A network rep says they understood where he was coming from at the time, but in light of this -- they say, "[T]hese documents point to a greater level of involvement ... than we previously knew." As a result, he's suspended pending further evaluation.

ICYMI ... Chris was revealed to have texted about specific accusers, including Anna Ruch -- who accused Andrew of kissing her at a wedding. CC allegedly wrote to a staffer of Andrew's ... "I have a lead on the wedding girl," which implies he was looking into her.

The NY AG docs also suggest Chris was reaching out to his media industry sources to get recon on who else might be coming forward with allegations against his bro.

As you know ... Gov. Cuomo ultimately resigned from his post, maintaining he never purposely did anything inappropriate. However, he has since been embroiled legally as well ... now facing criminal charges over some of the claims against him.

Cuomo's ratings have tanked over the last few months, and the fact CNN is characterizing his suspension as "indefinite" opens the door to the question ... will CC ever return to the CNN anchor seat?

The big mystery in the fatal shooting on the set of Alec Baldwin's movie "Rust" remains ... how live rounds ended up in the weapon, and now investigators are taking a closer look at the film's ammo supplier.

According to a new search warrant, obtained by TMZ, detectives in New Mexico have interviewed a guy named Seth Kenney, one of the suppliers of the ammunition head armorer Hannah Reed used on set.

Cops also spoke to Hannah's father, Thell Reed, who himself is an experienced armorer who has worked with Seth. In the docs, cops say Thell told them he and Seth crossed paths on a different production ... a month or 2 before the "Rust" tragedy.

What's interesting about that is ... Thell claims Seth brought live ammo -- a can with about 200 to 300 rounds -- to that set for the purpose of weapons training. When the training was completed, Thell says Seth took back the remaining bullets, and claims that included some live Colt .45 ammo.

The gun Baldwin fired was a long barrel Colt .45. You see where Thell is going with this -- he told cops the leftover ammo from his production might match that which killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

That's his theory, anyway, and cops are willing to check it out -- the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Dept. got the warrant to search Seth's company, PDQ Arm & Prop.

Presumably, they want to see if the fatal round matches those in the can of live ammo from a couple months ago. The judge signed off, giving detectives the greenlight to scoop up the potential evidence.

And, there's this ... according to the docs, cops also spoke to "Rust" prop master, Sarah Zachry, who said she checked the ammo box -- after Halyna was shot -- and found some bullets that rattled, indicating they're dummy rounds, and others that didn't. That led her to believe there were even more live rounds in the ammo box.

Remember, Hannah's attorneys floated a theory that someone, perhaps a disgruntled crew member, intentionally brought live bullets on set to sabotage the production -- but D.A. Mary Carmack-Altwies has said she isn't buying that.

Ex-UCF star football player Otis Anderson Jr. was allegedly shot and killed by his dad on Monday night ... after the two had gotten into an argument over a dog bite.

It's all spelled out in new police documents, obtained by TMZ Sports, in which cops say Otis Jr.'s mom, Denise Anderson, told them the whole, violent altercation started after her son's girlfriend's dog had bitten Otis Anderson Sr.

Cops say Denise told them Otis Sr. was so enraged over the bloody wound caused by the dog -- he and Otis Jr. proceeded to get into a verbal altercation.

Denise claimed the two were eventually separated when she told Otis Jr. to go upstairs ... but cops say she then got into an argument with Otis Sr., one in which Otis Sr. flipped over a recliner, causing Otis Jr. to come back downstairs to check on his mom.

When Otis Jr. made it back downstairs, cops say Denise told them the father and son "got into another verbal altercation and it appeared like they were going to fight."

It's unclear exactly what happened next -- the report was heavily redacted by police -- but in the docs, cops note when they arrived on the scene, they found Otis Jr. suffering from "at least one gunshot wound to the chest."

The cops also noted in the docs Denise was "suffering from multiple graze wounds."

Officers say Otis. Jr. was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, while Denise was treated for her wounds at the facility and later released.

In the docs, cops say they eventually arrested Anderson Sr. and booked him on charges of murder and attempted murder.

Jail records show he's still currently in custody.

As we reported, the NFL community is mourning the loss of Otis Jr. -- who signed with the Los Angeles Rams earlier this season before getting cut in September -- with stars like Jalen Ramsey and Micah Parsons expressing sadness over the situation.

UCF has also commented on the tragedy, saying in a statement, "He was revered by his teammates, our fans, and everyone within Knight Nation."

"Our deepest condolences go out to everyone who loved Otis. He was taken too soon and will truly be missed."

El Chapo's wife will see time behind bars -- but it'll be way less than her hubby's life sentence.

Emma Coronel Aispuro was sentenced to 3 years in prison Tuesday for her role in Chapo's drug empire -- significantly less time than what many people expected she'd get, which was somewhere in the ballpark of around 10 years, if not more.

Of course, she had prosecutors pushing for a fairly lenient sentence on account of her cooperation and plea deal -- but it was unclear if the judge would still go easy on her. Seems the court felt her crimes she pled guilty to weren't worth more than a few years in prison.

She'll also have 4 years of supervised release and a forfeiture judgment of $1,499,970 representing proceeds of and property gained by Aispuro as a result of the crimes.

As we reported ... Coronel Aispuro copped a plea deal earlier this year after getting busted for drug trafficking at the Dulles International Airport in Virginia. She pled guilty to money laundering and conspiracy to distribute cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana.

Her attorneys argued (apparently with some success) that El Chapo's spouse was not a ring leader of any sort, nor was she intricately involved in her husband's operation at a key level. They also claimed she only participated because she had no other choice.

The recent string of mass shopliftings in retail, high-end and jewelry stores has corporations desperate for a way to stop thieves, and one new strategy seems to have done just that ... resulting in several arrests.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Lululemon Athletica has been putting tracking devices on store merchandise -- not necessarily to stop the theft from happening, but to recover lost goods after the crime takes place.

We're told as a result of the trackers, police were recently able to track down several women in a vehicle in Orange County, shortly after they'd hit a Lululemon store in Los Angeles.

Cops recovered around $15,000 worth of stolen Lulu gear when they pulled over the vehicle ... along with another $5,000 in goods stolen from other stores in the area.

As we've reported, it was just last week when a Louis Vuitton store was ransacked in a San Francisco smash-and-grab that looked like it was out of a movie ... with the alleged thieves scrambling to waiting vehicles.

Another flash-rob happened at an L.A. area LV store recently as well.

Marilyn Manson's home was crawling with detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and it's related to his ongoing sexual assault investigations ... TMZ has learned.

Our law enforcement sources tell us Special Victims Unit detectives went to the shock rocker's home in West Hollywood early Monday morning, executing a search warrant.

We're told Marilyn was not home at the time ... and law enforcement forced entry with a warrant in hand.

Our sources say the search warrant is in connection to ongoing probes into sexual assault allegations against Marilyn ... and police seized media storage units, including hard drives, which will be reviewed before the case is submitted to the Los Angeles County District Attorney.

TMZ broke the story ... cops started digging into abuse allegations against MM back in February, meeting with one of his alleged victims.

As we've reported ... Manson is accused of locking women in a soundproof room in the home, something he allegedly did to punish them.

Trey Songz is the subject of a sexual assault investigation in Las Vegas.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is currently looking into claims of a sexual assault incident at The Cosmopolitan. It's unclear what day the alleged assault happened, but we're told the report was made to the police on Sunday.

Our sources say at this time, Trey is cooperating with the investigation ... no arrests have been made.

As for why he was in town, Trey celebrated his 37th birthday at Drai's Nightclub Saturday night. A source at the Cosmo tells us Trey and his entourage brought a group of females back to the hotel from the club, and that's where things allegedly took a turn.

We've reached out to a rep for Trey, so far ... no word back.

Bill Cosby is a free man, but prosecutors are asking the highest court in the land to review his case ... claiming he was never given immunity from a PA prosecutor in the Andrea Constand case.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... prosecutors in Pennsylvania are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to look at the PA Supreme Court's ruling which overturned Cosby's conviction -- leading to his immediate release from prison.

Remember, Cosby walked free back in June after serving more than 2 years of a 10-year sentence in his sexual assault case. The PA Supreme Court ruled the conviction was bogus because Cosby had relied on an agreement with a previous prosecutor to not criminally charge him when he was deposed in the Constand case.

In new docs, prosecutors are calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to right what they say is a "grievous wrong," arguing Cosby's overturned conviction is a slippery slope that could set a dangerous precedent.

They insist Cosby wasn't given lifetime immunity from prosecution just because the former prosecutor declined to criminally charge him at the time.

The appeal is a bit of a Hail Mary on behalf of prosecutors. The U.S. Supreme Court hears less than 1% of petitions, but there's still a chance ... however slim.

Marcell Ozuna was slapped with a 20-game suspension, retroactively, after commish Rob Manfred says an investigation concluded the Atlanta Braves star outfielder violated MLB's domestic violence policy.

31-year-old Ozuna was placed on administrative leave in May 2021 after he was arrested for allegedly getting physical with his wife. At the time, authorities said Marcell repeatedly grabbed his wife by the neck and slammed her into a wall. Cops claimed they actually witnessed some of the attack.

Ozuna -- one of the leagues best players -- missed 20 games.

The Braves ended up making a deep playoff run -- winning their first World Series since the mid-90s -- without Ozuna's bat and glove.

In addition to the alleged incident, Marcell was also dealing with a serious hand injury he sustained playing at Fenway Park just days before he was arrested. .

The criminal charges were ultimately dropped ... and the 2-time All-Star was never convicted of a crime.

However, Manfred still believes there's enough there to warrant the suspension.

“My office has completed its investigation into the allegations that Marcell Ozuna violated Major League Baseball’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy."

The commissioner continued ... "Having reviewed the totality of the available evidence, I have concluded that Mr. Ozuna violated our Policy and that discipline is appropriate.”

FYI, Ozuna was scheduled to make $12 million last season ... meaning the suspension cost him over 1.5 mil!

Jussie Smollett's back in Chicago, finally standing trial for allegedly staging the racist and homophobic attack he reported to cops ... and he's brought lots of backup.

The actor was greeted by a huge crowd of reporters and photographers on his way into the courthouse Monday morning. Jussie was flanked by 7 family members, including his sister Jurnee Smollett, as he strode in to face charges of felony disorderly conduct over the alleged January 2019 attack.

A grand jury indicted Smollett last year on six counts -- all related to lying to cops about the incident -- and he's pled not guilty to all the charges.

This is take 2 for Chicago in prosecuting Smollett for allegedly lying. He'd originally been hit with 16 charges, but the prosecutor's office unexpectedly dropped all of them back in March 2019.

A special prosecutor then presented the case to a grand jury ... resulting in the 6 new charges.

You'll recall, Jussie originally said 2 white men had attacked him at 2 AM on a brutally cold night ... hurling homophobic and racist slurs and, pouring what he believed to be bleach, all over him. He also claimed they'd yelled, "This is MAGA country" at him and left a rope around his neck.

However, Abel and Ola Osundairo eventually came forward and claimed the whole thing was staged.

The brothers, who are definitely NOT white, told cops Jussie paid them to pull off the fake attack ... which pissed off Chicago PD and led to Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx bringing the original charges.

The Osundairo brothers are expected to testify during Jussie's new trial.

Lilly Ghalichi and her husband have a headache to deal with in the middle of their Caribbean getaway ... because their Los Angeles home was broken into while they're abroad.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... crooks busted into the L.A. area home where the former "Shahs of Sunset" star and her husband live. The Friday evening heist was well-timed because the couple's out of town, and that might not be a coincidence.

Lilly's been posting a lot on social media from Saint Barts, and we're told the suspects could have noticed her vacay posts and then targeted her home.

Our sources say there are 3 suspects, 2 men and 1 woman, dressed in all black with black beanies. The 2 guys broke windows at the house, while the women in their crew were the lookout.

We're told when they attempted to gain entry by breaking a window in the master closet, they triggered the alarm.

Our sources say the siren sent the suspects scurrying from the property, without taking anything from the home. They took off on foot while neighborhood security and cops gave chase ... a police helicopter was even involved in the search.

We're told the couple has since hired 24/7 armed security at the property.

Our sources say detectives have a few potential leads on the suspects, but no arrests yet.

A group of thieves rushed a Home Depot in SoCal for what may lead to more looting and robberies -- making off with hammers and crowbars in what's becoming an alarming trend.

Cops say about 10 individuals hit up a HD in Lakewood, CA -- just outside of Long Beach -- Friday night ... going directly to the aisles that had large wrenches, crowbars and sledgehammers, as that appeared to be the only items they were interested in.

Somebody got video of the alleged suspects escaping through the front doors, pushing past people. One employee claims as many as 20 people ransacked the place, and were allegedly threatening to hit people with said stolen goods if they attempted to stop them.

While most got away ... the police say they've nabbed 4 people they believe were involved.

On the opposite side of town -- in ritzy Beverly Grove on Melrose -- a luxury retailer called Bottega Veneta was also raided by an unidentified group of people ... who allegedly stormed in, grabbed purses and other goods and then fled before cops could arrive.

These are just the latest of a string of smash-and-grab/flash mob-style robberies that have not only hit the Los Angeles area ... but elsewhere in California, and well beyond our state lines.

There have been reports of similar types of crimes happening in Illinois, Minnesota and other states -- and cops have gone on high alert to try and curb the brazen attacks on stores and businesses.

It's hard to tell to what extent this spree is, and among who -- although in some cases (like in Walnut Creek) it's quite obvious there's some coordination going on ... as many as 25 cars reportedly blocked off a street and lined up side by side as passengers exited and cleaned out a Nordstrom.

Of course, there's not much citizens -- let alone employees -- can do to stop this. Reports say anyone who's attempted to get in the way has risked getting attacked with pepper spray or being swung on ... and workers are usually told not to try and play Batman for this scenario.

Brian Laundrie may have killed himself with a handgun he took from his parent's home, but information about the missing gun was kept secret ... until now.

The Laundrie family attorney, Steven Bertolino, tells TMZ, Chris and Roberta Laundrie voluntarily surrendered all of the guns in their home to police back on Sept. 17. At the time they were aware a handgun was missing.

Bertolino says law enforcement felt it was best not to reveal the gun was MIA. He also says Brian's parents "were shocked the gun was missing and they were upset."

As we reported, a Florida medical examiner concluded Brian Laundrie died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Authorities have not said if the missing handgun was found at the scene.

What's puzzling ... if there was well-placed suspicion Brian Laundrie had a gun, why wasn't a warning sent out that he might be armed and dangerous? After all, he was missing for weeks and he could have been on the run.