Who is Shawn Laval Smith? Brianna Kupfer murder suspect stabbed the UCLA student 26 times
Brianna Kupfer murder update: An autopsy report has revealed that Shawn Laval Smith's victim Brianna Kupfer suffered over 26 stab wounds. The UCLA grad student was stabbed 11 times in the chest, twice in her abdomen, right leg and right arm, five times in her left arm, three times in her left leg, and once in her pelvis. Smith is currently being held on $2 million bail.
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Los Angeles police have identified a man as the suspect in the fatal stabbing of UCLA grad student Brianna Kupfer at her job in a luxury furniture store. The LAPD named 31-year-old Shawn Laval Smith as the suspect in the brutal slaying. Smith was captured in video footage calmly buying a vape pen from a 7-Eleven less than an hour after the murder.
Smith has been identified as a career criminal who has a long rap sheet spanning both coasts. Currently, he is free on a $1,000 bond from a misdemeanor arrest in Los Angeles County in October 2020, as per sheriff's records. The exact charges against him are still unclear. Court records show that Smith is now also free on a $50,000 bond in Charleston, South Carolina, for his involvement in firing a weapon into an occupied vehicle and subsequently being arrested in November 2019.
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Smith has numerous charges in North Carolina and South Carolina, as per public records, and his earlier charges on the East Coast include assault with a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed weapon, assault on a police officer, trespassing, possession of a stolen vehicle, and misdemeanors for larceny and possession of stolen goods. The outcome of all these charges is unclear at present. He has repeatedly failed to show up in court and has been arrested numerous times on bench warrants. In fact, he was reportedly once was convicted in absentia after skipping court in Charleston. He seems to have not served the sentence.
Kupfer, 24, of Pacific Palisades, was violently stabbed to death while working at a high-end furniture store in Hancock Park, Los Angeles, last week. Wilshire Patrol officers were alerted about the assault by a customer who found Kupfer's body around 1.50 pm (local time), according to the LAPD. The police believe that the victim might not have known the suspect prior to the attack.
Kupfer was a graduate of both Brentwood High School in Los Angeles and the University of Miami, her family said. Her father said that she had been working on a degree in architectural design at UCLA. He described his daughter as "smart" with "big dreams" in addition to having "lots of friends" and being "devoted to her family". Riley Rea, co-owner of the Croft House furniture store, said that Kupfer had been working at the business for just over a year before the attack. He said the 24-year-old woman was intelligent, poised and well-liked by her peers, adding, "She was mature beyond her years."