Brianna Kupfer Bio – Brianna Kupfer Wiki
Brianna Kupfer was working by herself in a Los Angeles furniture store when Shawn Laval Smith fatally stabbed her, police say.
AGE:
Brianna Kupfer was 24 years old.
DETAIL OF INCIDENCE:
Autopsy results reveal that UCLA graduate student Brianna Kupfer was stabbed 26 times at a luxury Los Angeles furniture store in January.
On Jan. 13, after 1 p.m., Kupfer was working by herself at the Croft House furniture store on North La Brea Ave. in Hancock Park when Shawn Laval Smith, 31, came into the store and fatally stabbed her, the Los Angeles Police Department said.
The autopsy, performed on Jan. 18, showed that Kupfer suffered 26 stab wounds in the abdomen, pelvis, arms, and legs.
According to the report, she was stabbed 11 times in the chest, which punctured both her lungs.
Just before the fatal attack, Kupfer “sent a text to a friend letting her know that there was someone inside the location that was giving her a bad vibe,” LAPD Lt. John Radke said, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. “Regrettably, that person did not see the text immediately.”
A customer who came into the store 15 minutes after Kupfer sent the text found her lying on the floor, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.
After the attack, the LAPD released video footage of an unidentified man they believed was involved in Kupfer’s murder, calling him armed and dangerous.
Police launched a search, offering a $250,000 reward for capturing the young woman’s killer.
According to the LAPD, authorities quickly identified the man in the video as Smith and arrested him on Jan. 19 in Pasadena, Calif.
According to a statement from the LAPD, Kupfer’s attacker stabbed her with a knife before fleeing out the back door.
Authorities determined that the suspect had walked into the store randomly and did not know the victim. The killer’s motive remains unclear.
Kupfer was a graduate student at UCLA who was studying architectural design.
“I’m absolutely devastated for her and her family,” Riley Rea, a co-owner of the furniture store where Kupfer worked, told the Los Angeles Times. “It just seems so disgusting and unexpected. Really there are no words to say how shocked we are to lose such a wonderful person.”
Smith is charged with murder.
Criminal proceedings in the case were suspended while authorities await the results of Smith’s mental health evaluation, Fox News reported.