Weapons & Guns

Turns out the gun that sent a Massachusetts college campus into full lockdown mode wasn't real at all -- cops say it was an airsoft replica carried by a juvenile, sparking hours of chaos and fear across campus.

The scare erupted Wednesday on the campus of UMass Lowell when video circulated on social media of a person near a dorm holding what looked like a firearm. Students immediately barricaded themselves inside classrooms and residence halls while heavily armed cops swarmed the university.

On Thursday, Lowell Police confirmed the weapon had been recovered and it was nothing more than an airsoft gun. The suspect, a juvenile, has since been identified.

Robin Westman -- the school shooter who killed two kids at a Minneapolis Catholic school last week -- went to a gun store days before the shooting ... and handled multiple weapons, security video from the shop shows.

New footage, obtained by KSTP in Minnesota, shows Westman walking into the store around 12:30 PM on Saturday, August 23 ... four days before the shooting at Annunciation Catholic school.

Westman walks around the store ... interacting with staff members and looking down the sight of a pistol and a rifle.

Robin Westman -- the Minnesota catholic school mass shooter -- asked security guards at the dispensary where he worked about guns prior to his murderous attack -- and was also obsessed with playing super violent video games ... TMZ has learned.

A former coworker of Robin's at a Rise medical cannabis dispensary tells TMZ ... Robin started with the company in late March, and the two worked together up until a week before the shooting -- but Robin never really let on about the deadly plan, yet there were signs.

Our source says although they never heard Robin bring up guns at work ... one coworker told them in the aftermath of the shooting that Westman asked the security team about firearms, though it was not clear in what context.

The Minneapolis mass shooter was armed with heavy artillery and wore tactical gear when they shot up a church, killing 2 children and injuring 18 other people, according to court documents obtained by TMZ.

Robin Westman went on a bloody rampage Wednesday morning at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis with three high-powered firearms and dressed in body armor, the docs say.

Westman brandished a Taurus semi-automatic pistol, a Mossberg shotgun, and a semi-automatic rifle, according to police. The shooter used all three deadly weapons to shoot through windows of the church in which adults and children were praying in the pews. Westman took the lives of 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski while injuring 18 others -- mostly children and a few adults.

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.

Andy Reid was reportedly almost hit by gunfire while he was in his office at the Kansas City Chiefs' practice facility last year.

According to The Kansas City Star, a bullet pierced through the coach's window back on May 4, 2024 and lodged itself in a wall near his bathroom -- some 15 feet from his desk.

Fortunately, the outlet says no one -- including the three-time Super Bowl-winning head coach -- was injured during the incident.

12:21 PM PT -- Gwinnett County PD tells TMZ the autopsy report does not reveal anything they didn't already know. Cops say the incident -- despite T-Hood getting shot in the back -- is still being investigated as a self-defense shooting.

T-Hood was killed in brutal fashion -- shot multiple times, at least once in the back ... TMZ has learned.

According to a Gwinnett County ME's report, obtained by TMZ Hip Hop, T-Hood suffered gunshot wounds to the back, abdomen, buttocks, and lower right and left thighs.

The reports says Hood pulled a gun during a heated argument with 2 other people inside his Georgia home -- but someone opened fire in self-defense, killing the rapper on August 8. It's unclear in the report who the shooter is.

Hood was rushed by ambulance to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. At the time, he had been dating "Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta" stars Kirk and Rasheeda's daughter Kelsie.

Taste of the City Lounge in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, was the site of a deadly shooting in August 2025, where three people were killed and nine more were injured.

And after the dust had settled, it was reported that two of the three men who'd been killed allegedly had ties to a local gang, which had been terrorizing the area in recent years.

We're going to take a look at some of the details of the shooting see what led up to the violent altercation.

One of the shooters, a man named Jamel Childs, was allegedly affiliated with Folk Nation -- a national gang organization dating back to the 1970s -- and New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch stated he'd been listed in a police database as a member of the gang, according to NBC News.

Tisch described the gang as a "violent" group that "terrorizes Brooklyn." The gang's members have are suspected of involvement in six shootings in 2025.

Childs had a criminal history of his own ... he was sentenced to almost eight years in prison after being convicted in 2018 for robbery, according to the New York Daily News. He served part of his sentence before he was let out on parole in 2023.

Although Childs was accused of participating in the shocking event, his friends and family have publicly described him as a "peacemaker" and as an individual who was not inclined to violence.

The accused shooter's friend Rajawn Philips spoke to the New York Daily News and characterized Childs as "a cool dude" who would often try to stop conflicts. He said Childs wasn't one of the usual "knuckleheads" who would try to start trouble at clubs and events. Jamel's brother, Richard Childs Jr., also spoke to the outlet and claimed his brother "wanted to save everyone."

The shooting at Taste of the City Lounge commenced just before 3:30 in the morning on Sunday, August 17 ... Childs was recorded on surveillance video arguing with Marvin St. Louis ... they eventually became separated.

St. Louis reportedly found Childs 10 minutes later and opened fire on him -- Childs and two other men then returned fire with their own guns.

Both Childs and St. Louis were struck multiple times, and they were later both pronounced dead at a local hospital. Another bystander was also shot and killed.

A late night out in New York City ended in tragedy over the weekend when multiple gunmen opened fire inside a Brooklyn restaurant, killing three and injuring 8.

The gunfire erupted just before 3:30 AM on Sunday inside Taste of the City Lounge, according to the NYPD. The club had just closed for the night when the chaos broke out.

Three men -- ages 27, 35, and one not identified -- were pronounced dead at the scene. Eight others were rushed to hospitals for treatment. Their conditions are not currently known.

The gunman who fatally shot a cop after opening fire on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta ... reportedly had a beef with the COVID-19 vaccine.

According to the New York Times ... 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White believed he got sick after taking the COVID-19 shot and had an unhealthy fixation on the vaccine, prompting his dad to call authorities to report his son was suicidal.

CNN also cited sources who said the shooter may have targeted the CDC over personal health concerns he blamed on the COVID-19 vaccine.

4:10 PM PT -- The shooter who opened fire near Emory University is dead, according to police in Atlanta.

The Atlanta Police Department says, "There is no ongoing threat to the Emory campus or the surrounding neighborhood. The incident involved a single shooter, who is now deceased."

APD says one law enforcement officer was injured during the police response.

Cops are now asking folks to avoid the area as they investigate.

An army of police officers just descended on the area around Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, after reports of an active shooter -- and social media videos capture the sounds of rapid gunfire.

Emory University officials sent out an alert at about 5 PM local time., advising students to "RUN, HIDE, FIGHT. Avoid the area."

One of the focal points of the shooting is a CVS store, where CNN got footage of what appeared to be a wounded uniformed cop being carried out on a stretcher into a waiting ambulance.

9:04 PM PT -- Terrell Suggs' rep, Denise White, said in a statement to TMZ Sports on Friday ... "There was an incident at a Starbucks drive-through in which Terrell attempted to safely back out of the lane when the individual behind him became hostile and falsely accused Terrell of making contact with his vehicle, which did not occur."

"The situation escalated when the individual exited his car and approached Terrell in a confrontational manner. Notably, the individual had not placed an order in the Starbucks line, which led Terrell to believe he might continue to follow him, causing Terrell to feel threatened."

"At no point," she continued, "did Terrell point a firearm at the individual. He made it clear that he was prepared to protect himself if necessary. Arizona is an open carry state, and Terrell is aware of the responsibilities that come with firearm ownership. He recognizes that he should not have displayed his weapon, but his actions were solely in response to feeling threatened and were not intended to escalate the situation further."

TMZ Sports has obtained the video of the Starbucks dispute that led to Terrell Suggs' arrest last year ... and in the footage, you can see the ex-NFL superstar did indeed brandish a gun during the tiff.

The viral video apparently showing Troy Ave fending off a mugger won't result in further legal action ... 'cause the cops appear to be confirming the clip is fake.

A rep for the San Diego County Sheriff's Office tells TMZ ... the alleged incident was "not substantiated" -- and, the authorities have closed the case.

Translation ... the video was all a hoax -- which might not be a crime, but certainly won't do any favors for Troy's image.

The two men suing Kodak Black claiming they were shot alongside him during that ill-fated Justin Bieber-hosted Super Bowl after-party in 2022 are trying to score a $10.6 million default judgment ... but the rapper's attorney says it's just a shameless money grab.

Kodak's lawyer Bradford Cohen tells TMZ Hip Hop ... "We are not paying them a thing -- it's us who are the victim of a legal assault by these two people."

Cohen highlighted that Kodak was never properly served and they only found out about the lawsuit yesterday when a media outlet reach out to them.

The incident was a wild-wild-west scenario that luckily resulted in no casualties ... Kodak, Mark Schaefer, and Adam Rahman were all shot outside of The Nice Guy nightclub in Hollywood after Super Bowl LVI ended and the streets filled with crowds.

Residents of Tennessee were shocked in late July 2025 when four people were murdered in Jackson County, in the northwest corner of the state ... and a baby belonging to one of the victims was later found in a stranger's yard 25 miles away from the scene of the crime.

Local authorities subsequently began a manhunt, which concluded a month later when Austin Robert Drummond was apprehended after a multi-day search.

We're going to take a look into the murder suspect's troubled past.

Drummond's criminal past stretches over a decade into the past, as he was convicted of aggravated robbery in 2014 after robbing a convenience store in Jackson, Tennessee the year prior, according to WREG-TV in Memphis.

The suspect spent 13 years behind bars, during which he picked up an additional charge for retaliation, according to Fox News.

Drummond posted numerous photos on his Facebook account while he was locked up, showing off his use of a cell phone, possession of a vodka bottle, and other contraband.

His sentence ended in September 2024, and he was released ... and he was arrested on a drug charge that same day. He was also charged with attempted murder, stemming from an incident in prison -- but he was free on bond at the time of July 2025 quadruple murder.

Drummond was captured in Jackson, Tennessee, on August 5, 2025, after spending several days on the run from local and state authorities, according to NBC News.

Multiple sightings of the suspect were reported over the course of the manhunt, and a shelter-in-place order was issued after he was caught on security camera wearing camouflage clothing and carrying a rifle.

Drummond had apparently been hiding out in an abandoned building in Jackson for part of the manhunt, according to Police Chief Thom Corley.

A motive for the quadruple killing was not immediately established ... although authorities don't believe the incident was a random act of violence. It's unclear how the baby ended up 25 miles from the murder scene.

Investigators believed Drummond had ties to the Vice Lords gang, who maintain a presence in Illinois and Tennessee, according to CNN.

Authorities suspected the murder suspect received help from other gang members over the course of the search for him.

Three individuals were arrested in and have been accused of helping Drummond while he was on the run.