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Jessie Merkel -- the father of 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel, who was killed during the shooting at a Catholic school in Minnesota Wednesday -- spoke out Thursday in a heartbreaking speech.

Merkel started out by calling Robin Westman -- the shooter who cops say fired more than 100 rounds through the windows of a church into a schoolwide Mass -- a coward ... adding Robin's actions robbed him and his partner of years with their son.

Merkel says Fletcher enjoyed fishing, cooking, playing sports and spending time with loved ones ... and, he asks people to try to remember the kind of kid Fletcher was, instead of thinking only of his tragic death.

Robin Westman -- who killed 2 kids and injured 17 people in a targeted shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis Wednesday -- reportedly wrote a long-winded manifesto and uploaded a number of strange videos prior to the attack.

According to CNN ... investigators are currently examining -- and trying to authenticate -- YouTube videos allegedly posted by the shooter in order to gain more insight into a possible motive for the violence.

The videos in question -- and the account itself -- have since been taken down, but Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told reporters Westman had a "manifesto" scheduled to be published on YouTube Wednesday ... when authorities say Westman shot into morning Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol.

12:35 PM PT -- FBI Director Kash Patel announced an update to the case on X ... saying the suspect was "identified as Robin Westman, a male born as Robert Westman." Patel said the FBI is investigating the shooting as domestic terrorism and a "hate crime targeting Catholics."

Minneapolis Police earlier Wednesday referred to the suspected shooter as a man in his early 20s.

The Minneapolis Catholic school shooting suspect has been identified ... according to multiple reports.

The Associated Press reports 23-year-old Robin Westman is believed to be the gunman who attacked the Annunciation Catholic School in the city Wednesday morning.

Local outlets KARE and KSTP also report sources have confirmed the same name. NBC News reports the same name, and said law enforcement officials confirmed Westman posted multiple videos online referencing violence.

Drake got an unwanted visitor at his NYC store Tuesday -- and it wasn't Kendrick Lamar -- but rather a hammer-wielding lunatic who smashed windows and tried to set the place on fire, according to police.

The madness kicked off Tuesday at the rapper's October's Very Own clothing store in Manhattan ... and most of it was captured on video shot by stunned witnesses.

Check it out ... the clip is shot from outside the store through the glass windows, where a woman appears to be throwing items inside the store to the ground and smashing up the windows from inside.

Festivalgoers looking to get it on at this year's Burning Man are going to have to find another safe space for sex ... 'cause the famed Orgy Dome was just destroyed in a crazy storm.

Yup, the Orgy Dome is totally what you think it is ... a large, tented, air-conditioned festival fixture with beds where people can go to -- consensually and with an ID -- knock one out ... or at least it was before a recent wind storm in Nevada's Black Rock Desert blew it apart.

In a message to IG with a video of the destroyed f*** palace, the group wrote ... "Our build team worked so hard this past week to *erect* our lovely space. Unfortunately, the winds yesterday undid all that labor and wrecked our structure. We are still here and thankfully safe, we hope to gift the playa some workshops and will keep you updated."

The tribe has spoken ... and Cracker Barrel is listening ... because the restaurant chain says it's ditching a new logo design that caused a ton of outrage and backlash.

Cracker Barrel just announced they are switching back to their original logo, explaining ... "We said we would listen, and we have. Our new logo is going away and our 'Old Timer' will remain."

The logo change ditched Uncle Herschel, the old white man sitting on a chair next to a barrel, in favor of a more modern and more bland look ... but the new look sparked massive pushback ... and even President Trump weighed in.

Masked federal agents grabbed a couple men off the sidewalk outside a Home Depot in Los Angeles ... including one man who threw a glass object at their unmarked van, and bystanders claim he's a U.S. citizen.

TMZ shot video of a dramatic immigration raid Monday morning ... and a swarm of masked agents in blue jeans, sneakers and tactical gear detain a day laborer looking for work in a hauling truck. We're told the day laborer's name is Hector.

As the masked men -- some wearing police vests -- drive off in an unmarked van, a guy on the sidewalk watching the raid with his mother throws a glass object at the van and it shatters. The van comes to a screeching halt, and the occupants rush over to the guy and detain him ... as the man's mother begs them to stop and people scream that he's a U.S. citizen.

Jake Haro -- accused, along with his wife, of killing their infant child -- is lending a hand to cops searching mountains outside L.A. for the missing baby, but so far they're still coming up empty.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's deputies escorted Haro Sunday in an orange jumpsuit and shackles to a mountainous area of Moreno Valley in Riverside County, CA ... hoping to find 7-month-old Emmanuel.

Haro and the cops conducted their search for several hours in the afternoon -- and while it ended unsuccessfully ... there was a brief moment of hope, fueled by a false report.

The arrest of the parents of missing 7-month-old Emmanuel Haro was nothing short of dramatic -- and it's all on video.

The video shows Jake and Rebecca Haro slammed in handcuffs outside their Cabazon, California home on Friday, surrounded by detectives from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Homicide Detail and Specialized Enforcement Division, before being hauled off in a cop car.

Authorities now believe baby Emmanuel is deceased, and the search for his remains is still ongoing.

Ghislaine Maxwell's drawing a hard line -- insisting she never saw Donald Trump tangled up in her and Jeffrey Epstein’s sordid business or doing anything remotely inappropriate with underage girls.

The Justice Department just unsealed Maxwell’s full prison interview transcript from last month at Florida’s FCI Tallahassee -- where she’s serving a 20-year stretch -- and in it, she flat-out denies ever seeing Trump anywhere near Epstein’s massage tables, getting rubdowns from the minor girls she procured, hanging at his home ... or caught in any inappropriate situation at all.

In fact, Maxwell told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that every time she crossed paths with Trump, he was nothing but "a gentleman in all respects" -- and she never saw him act out of line with anyone.

A conspiracy theory podcast host’s real-life plot just turned darker than any episode -- he’s reportedly been charged for allegedly murdering his own girlfriend.

Tobias Marcus Nuttall -- the Aussie podcaster who dives into "occult, magick, spirituality, and all things clandestine" on-air -- just faced the Perth Magistrates Court, accused of stabbing his 30-year-old girlfriend to death.

According to media reports, Nuttall, 32, stayed silent in court -- only speaking up to confirm his name.

Courtney Clenney killed her boyfriend Christian Obumseli in Miami back in 2022 ... but whether she murdered him or killed him in self-defense will be the subject of her trial -- and, we examine the case in a documentary now available to stream on YouTube.

We've put our doc "TMZ Investigates: Killer OnlyFans Model: Deadly Love Story" on the video streaming site ... which takes viewers through all the beats of Clenney and Obumseli's toxic relationship.

Clenney -- who was seen hitting Christian during a trip to Aspen, Colorado -- has claimed self-defense. She's facing a second-degree murder charge in Florida.

An explosion shook the waters near Baltimore's Key Bridge Monday evening but thankfully, it wasn't the tragedy it could've been.

Baltimore City Fire officials say the blast broke out aboard a 751-foot bulk carrier packed with coal around 6:28 PM, just after leaving the dock. The massive ship -- carrying 23 crew members -- immediately drew an emergency response by both land and water. Officials say everyone onboard is safe and accounted for.

The aftermath looked intense as a huge black plume of smoke shot into the sky, hovering over the water, startling nearby residents. The Coast Guard says they're investigating what caused the fire.

4:08 PM PT -- President Trump and Vladimir Putin had a brief joint presser following their roughly 2 1/2 hour meeting ... revealing not much about what was discussed saying "there's no deal until there's a deal" and that they didn't "get there" -- leaving us to assume there is much more work ahead.

Putin ended the conference suggesting their next meeting location should be held in Moscow -- Russia's capital -- in which Trump responded with "I'll get a little heat on that one ... but I could see it possibly happening."

President Trump and Russian strongman Vladimir Putin are both on the ground in Alaska for a high-stakes summit -- the powerful world leaders just greeted each other on the tarmac ... and it's all on video.

Trump and Putin shook hands Friday after flying into Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage ... emerging from their planes after waiting around on their aircraft for a good while after landing.

They each walked down a red carpet and Trump waited for Putin and then they shook hands and patted each other on the shoulder, exchanging a few words on their way over to a blue stage adorned with "ALASKA 2025."

The guy who got caught vaping in the lavatory on an American Airlines flight followed through with his threats to file a police report against the flight attendant ... and he told cops she exposed his genitals and assaulted him.

TMZ obtained the report Peter Nguyen Wong filed with police in California ... and he claims the flight attendant unlocked the lavatory door while he was inside and caught him taking one hit from a vape.

When the flight attendant allegedly opened the door, Wong claims his genitals were exposed to other passengers.

Jeff Bezos is facing heartbreak -- his mother, Jacklyn "Jackie" Bezos, has died at 78.

The Bezos Family Foundation announced the sad news Thursday, sharing a photo of Jackie along with a lengthy tribute, saying she died peacefully at her Miami home -- and while the cause of death hasn’t been revealed, the Foundation noted she was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia in 2020.