Crime

Amazon's customer service rating just went up in many people's books, 'cause one of their drivers fought off a man who was allegedly trying to steal his co-worker's van.

New video's making the rounds on social media, which shows an Amazon employee -- a female with the company uniform on -- attempting to break up a fight between another Amazon driver (a dude) and some random man in the middle of the road out in NY.

This all went down Sunday ... and the NYPD says this brawl kicked off with the man in black attempting to jack the Amazon van of this woman -- who was stuck in traffic while on the job.

An Oakland Juneteenth celebration ended in tragedy when multiple people got shot ... and the whole thing was on video, including footage of folks running and ducking for cover.

The festivities went down at Lake Merritt -- a lagoon centrally located in the city -- and took a turn for the worse Wednesday evening ... after a group of individuals started doing donuts in cars and on motorbikes at a major intersection in town.

Video from the sideshow before bullets started flying looks relatively fun/ innocent -- this type of thing is common in the Bay Area, BTW -- with lots of people laughing and enjoying themselves.

Taylor Swift's private jet ended up in the crosshairs of a political protest -- environmental activists tagged multiple planes at an airfield she'd landed at ... but missed the target.

Just Stop Oil -- a British environmental activist group focused on human-caused climate change -- took responsibility for the vandalism Thursday ... confirming they were specifically going after Taylor's private plane.

The org says protesters Jennifer Kowalski and Cole Macdonald entered the private airfield at Stansted airport around 5 AM ... and sprayed paint on PJs using rigged fire extinguishers.

Alki David -- the tycoon who famously created Tupac and Michael Jackson holograms -- just took a huge loss in court ... 'cause a jury hit him with a huge 9-figure verdict in a sexual assault lawsuit.

A jury of Alki's peers decided he oughta pay a Jane Doe who sued him $900 million in damages ... at least according to a report in the L.A. Times -- which cites the Doe's attorneys as announcing the judgment.

The astronomical figure reportedly includes $800 million in punitive damages and $100 million in compensatory damages ... and the jury award here is one of the largest in history according to the woman's legal team.

A garden that Steph and Ayesha Curry helped bring to a school in Northern California last year was sadly ripped apart by vandals over the weekend.

The small oasis -- which was funded, in part, by the Currys' Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation -- was added to a playground at Global Family Elementary School in Oakland during the 2022-23 school year ... but, according to Oakland Unified School District, it's now in need of serious repair.

OUSD officials say some jerks "tore apart the planters, ripped out the irrigation system, broke all the wooden benches, damaged a ladder, and left everything in the area in disarray."

Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs was accused of dragging the mother of his child down a set of stairs and injuring her before his arrest on Sunday, TMZ Sports has learned.

According to court documents we obtained ... the woman told police Buggs broke into her Tuscaloosa, Ala. residence with a tire iron at around 5:28 AM -- and then went upstairs to confront her.

Tuscaloosa Police Dept. officers wrote in the docs the woman then claimed Buggs dragged her down the stairs ... causing her to break off several "clip-on toenails." They also state the woman had "scratch marks" on her wrist from the altercation.

President Biden's Secret Service keeps taking hits -- one of the agents on his detail was robbed at gunpoint during the president's fundraising trip to California.

While POTUS was rubbing elbows with celebs, Barack Obama and megadonors Saturday night in Hollywood, one of his off-duty Secret Service agents was hanging out in Tustin -- about an hour south in Orange County -- where he got a crash course in Cali crime.

Police say the agent had his bag stolen at gunpoint around 9:36 PM at a housing complex. The agent fired his gun during the incident, though it's unclear whether the robber was struck by that gunfire.

A huge demand for LEGOs and sky-high prices at retail stores are creating a growing black market in SoCal, where thieves are going to great lengths to jack LEGOs from stores.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... theft rings are marching into retailers like Target, Barnes & Noble and Walmart and stealing any and all things LEGO, and the crimes are getting more sophisticated by the day.

This ain't a smash-and-grab type job ... we're told some of the crews boosting LEGOs are now using counter-surveillance technology, plus getaway drivers and lookouts.

Hunter Biden has certainly been making the rounds in L.A. following his federal gun conviction ... first, he enjoyed a yummy Italian meal in West Hollywood – and now he attended the screening of a new Sean Penn movie.

That's right ... President Biden's son doesn't seem to have a care in the world – or at least that's the image he's publicly portraying -- despite facing up to 25 years in prison after a jury convicted him this week on three felony gun charges.

He's a first-time offender so he won't get anywhere near the max and there's a chance he'll get straight probation.

Ex-UFC star Tim Kennedy -- who's also a U.S. Army Special Forces sniper -- is praising the police sniper who took out a bank robber with a close-range kill shot between 2 hostages.

Tim tells TMZ … law enforcement did incredible work here to preserve innocent lives and protect civilians, and anyone who thinks the sniper put the hostages at risk with such a daring shot has no clue what goes into a snipe like this.

Remember ... video shows the moment a Lee County Sheriff's Department sniper shoots through a computer monitor inside a bank, killing a robber who was using 2 hostages as human shields while communicating with a negotiator.

Tú quieres stolen art from Taco Bell?! Well, it just so happens there's some available on the black market ... for a hefty price tag.

Here's what's going on ... wall art commissioned for the fast food giant's image rebranding some 20 years ago was swiped from various locations over the years ... and now the heist pieces are popping up for sale online.

Mark Smith, the artist behind the dope designs, tells TMZ he's known for years that the art was stolen from stores ... but only recently has there been a hot resale market ... which includes one picture going for $10K on eBay!

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have issues with finances, Goldie Hawn has issues with crime in Los Angeles, and James Worthy remembers Jerry West ... all this on today's hot takes.

First on "TMZ Live" Harvey and Charles dive into the financial issues surrounding Ben and Jen as they hurtle towards divorce.

Illinois basketball star Terrence Shannon Jr. has been found not guilty in his rape trial ... with the NBA prospect being acquitted of all charges on Thursday.

The decision was announced minutes ago ... with the jury coming to its conclusion after just over an hour of deliberation.

Shannon Jr. was accused of sexual misconduct following a trip to Lawrence, Kansas in September ... and was suspended from the Illinois basketball team after being charged with rape and sexual battery.

The O.J. Simpson murder saga has direct connections to the house owned by then-KCBS TV reporter Harvey Levin, and one of the connections involves what O.J.'s best friend might know about the killings.

Harvey, who covered the trial for KCBS, bought the Hollywood Hills house in 1984 from Wayne Hughes, who owned Public Storage. It was Wayne's bachelor pad, and he threw lots of parties. Among the guests ... his good friends O.J. and Nicole Brown Simpson.

During the trial, prosecutors wanted to call Wayne to the stand to testify about several occasions where Nicole came to the house in the middle of the night and cried out for help. She told Wayne O.J. had beaten her and she was scared of him. Judge Ito would not allow Wayne to testify.

Diddy is back in public, hot "rodent men" are taking over Hollywood and Joey Chestnut is in some hot dog water.

First up on "TMZ Live" Harvey and Charles dive into all things Diddy ... now that he's resurfaced amid the Cassie beatdown video and his various legal issues.

A middle school coach in Michigan is out of a job and facing criminal charges after cops say he used a shirt to choke a student in the hallway ... which was apparently caught on video.

Surveillance footage from Ypsilanti Middle School purportedly shows a coach -- an adult man, mind you -- approaching a teenage student from behind as the kid walks down the hallway towards the door, before the guy wraps a rolled-up shirt around the student's neck.

It looks like the coach -- who has yet to be ID'd --  yanks back on the shirt and a struggle ensues ... all while the shirt tightens around the kid's neck. Ultimately, the teen breaks free and the man lets up as the kid walks away.