Father Of Murdered UCLA Grad Slams Lawmakers For Letting Her Accused Attacker Out Of Jail
The father of the slain UCLA graduate spoke out against the lawmakers who let the man who killed her go free just before he allegedly committed this horrific crime. Police say the girl was a random victim with no ties to the suspect. The horrible murder by chance happened while the woman was working at a high-end furniture store in Los Angeles.
"Crime is truly spiking, and we have a lot of criminals on the streets that shouldn’t be out," grieving father Todd Kupfer, 60, told Fox News.
His 24-year-old daughter, Brianna Kupfer, was murdered Thursday by a person who walked into Croft House, an upscale furniture store where she worked, and plunged a knife in her.
"We have a lot of politicians that somehow forgot about people and think the key to getting elected is to support the lowest rung of our society and to give them rights and somehow that’s the answer to getting votes," Kupfer said.
APD has identified Shawn Laval Smith, 31, as the man wanted in murder of UCLA grad student Brianna Kupfer. The career criminal has a lengthy rap sheet with arrests in Charlotte, South Carolina, and California. At the time of the murder Smith was free on a $1,000 bond in Los Angeles for a misdemeanor, reports show.
Brianna Kupfer was studying design at UCLA and had been working part-time for about a year as a consultant at Croft House on North La Brea Avenue.
"She was a kind soul and always was trying to make herself better and everything around her better," said Kupfer, fighting back tears. "She cared about people."
The slain woman loved to sew and made a lot of her own garments by hand.
"She liked fun clothes and thought they said something about people's personalities," he said. "She wanted to create a clothing line."
Brianna Kupfer graduated from the University of Miami before returning to California to pursue a degree at UCLA.
"She was the kind of person we need on this Earth," her dad said. "She was strong and vivacious."
Kupfer grew up in the Pacific Palisades – about 3 miles north of Santa Monica – where she lived with her father, her mother Lori, her little sister Mikaela and her brothers Tucker and Brandon.
Mikaela, 21, is gutted by her sister's sudden and violent death, the father said.
"They were best friends," Kupfer told Fox News. "She is not doing well. She's completely broken."
He was arrested Wednesday morning in Pasadena and booked into a Los Angeles jail later that afternoon. He is currently being held on a $2million bond, inmate records revealed.