After the outrage over the stabbing to death of a 24-year-old Los Angeles woman who was allegedly killed by a Homeless suspect while working inside a high-end furniture store last week, some people who work in the community where the murder took place are calling for an increased police presence and more mental health services.
brianna kuffer She was inside Croft House on January 13 when her suspected killer, identified as 31-year-old Shawn Laval Smith, fatally stabbed her and fled. He was arrested Wednesday in Pasadena, a Los Angeles suburb.
A motive for the murder has not been determined.
WHO IS BRIANNA KUPFER, THE LOS ANGELES STABBING VICTIM?
Shawn Laval Smith had a long rap sheet that included charges in the Carolinas and California.
(Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)
“We are furious and we are all heartbroken,” Rabbi Mendy Cunin, who is praying in a Jewish temple two doors down from the furniture store, told Fox News. “We need to pay the police back, and there have to be consequences. Many criminals know that many crimes go unpunished.”
He added that those with mental illness who pose a danger to themselves and others should be housed in facilities where they can receive much-needed treatment.
Cunin’s comments stemmed from efforts by criminal justice advocates to cut Los Angeles County and police budgets. district attorney Jorge Gasconprocedural reforms that have been criticized as too lenient and have spurred two repeal attempts by opponents.
A note left with flowers was among the many bouquets left outside the Croft House furniture store in Los Angeles, where Brianna Kupfer was killed on January 13.
(Fox Digital News)
“Who else can you blame but the leaders?” a passerby who only gave his name as David said. “Now when I walk here, I look over my shoulder.”
The front of the furniture store, which is located on busy North La Brea Avenue in the city’s Fairfax district, was covered Wednesday with flowers, candles and notes in memory of Kupfer, a graduate student from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was studying interior design.
“I remember seeing her,” Rabbi Brandon Marshak told Fox News. “She locked the door every day. That day, I was driving past her to the restroom at night, and then someone said there was a murder.”
Kupfer’s death has shaken the community and came at a time when Los Angeles is experiencing elevated crime rates. Days after her death, a 70-year-old nurse died after being attacked at a bus stop outside Union Station while on her way to work.
Earlier this month, a 16-year-old girl was found dead off Interstate 110. She is believed to have been murdered.
A makeshift memorial for Brianna Kupfer outside Croft House, the Los Angeles furniture store where she worked and was stabbed to death on January 13.
(Fox Digital News)
Homicides in Los Angeles had been on a downward trend since 2006, when 480 people died. But the city is on track to match or exceed the number of murders in 2006, and homicides have increased in recent years. In 2020, the city experienced 355 murders and in 2021 there were 397 homicides, according to police figures.
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“There has been a lot of crime,” Cunin said. “It’s a different time now. We have to put the clock back where it was and more.”
