Suspect arrested in Brianna Kupfer’s killing at Hancock Park furniture store

Police have taken a suspect into custody in connection with last week’s lethal stabbing of a young girl inside of a Hancock Park luxurious furnishings store, authorities mentioned Wednesday.

The suspect, 31-yr-aged Shawn Laval Smith, was found and detained by Pasadena police in advance of midday in the space of Good Oaks and Colorado Boulevard, in accordance to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Smith was currently being sought in the Jan. 13 killing of 24-yr-outdated Brianna Kupfer at Croft House on North La Brea Avenue.

That day, Kupfer was doing work on your own at the shop when a person walked in.

At 1:36 p.m., the youthful lady sent a text to a pal expressing there was another person inside of the retail outlet who was “giving her a negative vibe,” LAPD Lt. John Radke stated.

About 14 minutes afterwards, a customer walked in and located Kupfer useless on the flooring, protected in blood.

The assailant experienced stabbed the younger woman to loss of life and then remaining as a result of the again doorway, according to LAPD.

Law enforcement reported the suspect “was not recognised to the target and was a random walk in to the retail store.” It remains unclear what enthusiastic the killing.

Immediately after the stabbing, police shared footage of a tall, slender gentleman in a darkish hoodie, sunglasses and a white N-95 mask strolling away in the alley at the rear of the criminal offense scene.

Distinctive movie released Tuesday showed the suspect at a 7-Eleven store — just 30 minutes immediately after the killing.

Smith was named as a suspect just a number of several hours following the video’s launch.

“This individual accountable for this vicious, senseless and brutal crime walks amongst us,” LAPD Chief Michel Moore stated for the duration of a Tuesday information meeting.

Much less than 24 hrs later on, police obtained a phone from a fantastic Samaritan reporting that a person matching Smith’s description was on the corner of Colorado and Reasonable Oaks in Pasadena at 11:15 a.m., Pasadena law enforcement instructed KTLA.

“I am calling since I see a gentleman who appears really comparable to the suspect in the Kupfer stabbing in LA,” the 911 caller mentioned.

Officers responded to the site, where by they spotted Smith in the avenue.

He was detained without incident, and afterwards transferred into LAPD custody once authorities verified he was the suspect in Kupfer’s killing.

Video clip confirmed the man being handcuffed by authorities at a Pasadena bus halt.

“He just experienced this really cold appear on his encounter like, ‘well I guess they got me,’” stated Charlie Sanchez Salinas, who witnessed the arrest.

Reserving documents demonstrate Smith has an substantial criminal background, such as an Oct 2020 arrest in Covina for a misdemeanor demand and a 2016 arrest in South Carolina relevant to resisting or assaulting a police officer. He was also marked for extradition in North Carolina in link with an assault with a lethal weapon.

Kupfer, a Pacific Palisades resident, was as a design and style consultant for Croft House, in accordance to her LinkedIn profile.

Her father, Todd Kupfer, explained he saw her just the evening ahead of when she went above to her family’s house. He explained the loved ones is now devastated.

“It’s unfathomable,” the father instructed NewsNation. “Your feelings — you just want it all to go away. Occasionally you want your self to go away mainly because you just don’t want to experience it any longer.”

He explained his daughter never ever expressed any problem to him about crime in the surrounding region where she labored.

“I experienced no thought that this was even remotely a probability,” he explained. “Given the location, you would not necessarily count on danger… In the center of the afternoon in that place.”

A vigil is planned for Kupfer 1:30 p.m. Thursday outside Croft Home.