Last week’s random attack on UCLA student Brianna Kupfer, 24, as she worked at a furniture store, garnered national attention. A customer found the young woman deceased at the scene less than thirty minutes after Kupfer had sent a text that someone inside store was giving her a “bad vibe.” The Los Angeles Police Department identified the suspect shortly after as 31-year-old Shawn Laval Smith, who was arrested and charged with murder and the use of a deadly weapon on Friday.
At the time of the attack, Smith was out on bond pending a South Carolina trial on charges of firing a flare gun into a moving vehicle with a child inside in 2019 (proceeding delayed because of COVID-19). In 2016, Smith was arrested in Charleston County, South Carolina. He later pled guilty to resisting or assaulting a police officer and was sentenced to time served. Smith was also arrested in October 2020 in a misdemeanor case in Covina, but the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office declined to file charges.
In January of 2021, Smith vandalized a car in California, and when officers arrested him, he resisted and bit one of them. He was charged with assault on a police officer and resisting arrest. While his attorney claimed mental incompetence, the doctors who examined him determined he was competent to stand trial. He pled no contest to one felony charge of resisting arrest and was sentenced to eight months in jail and two years of probation. After serving only 133 days in jail, he then failed twice to report to his probation officer. Smith’s probation was revoked in November and a bench warrant issued, but he could not be located.
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We will continue to make you aware of these stories showing the tragic effects of recidivism. We couldn’t agree more with second chances, but exactly how many chances should there be before we start prioritizing the safety of others?
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