Crime

Ex-UFC star Tim Kennedy -- who's also a U.S. Army Special Forces sniper -- is praising the police sniper who took out a bank robber with a close-range kill shot between 2 hostages.

Tim tells TMZ … law enforcement did incredible work here to preserve innocent lives and protect civilians, and anyone who thinks the sniper put the hostages at risk with such a daring shot has no clue what goes into a snipe like this.

Remember ... video shows the moment a Lee County Sheriff's Department sniper shoots through a computer monitor inside a bank, killing a robber who was using 2 hostages as human shields while communicating with a negotiator.

Tú quieres stolen art from Taco Bell?! Well, it just so happens there's some available on the black market ... for a hefty price tag.

Here's what's going on ... wall art commissioned for the fast food giant's image rebranding some 20 years ago was swiped from various locations over the years ... and now the heist pieces are popping up for sale online.

Mark Smith, the artist behind the dope designs, tells TMZ he's known for years that the art was stolen from stores ... but only recently has there been a hot resale market ... which includes one picture going for $10K on eBay!

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have issues with finances, Goldie Hawn has issues with crime in Los Angeles, and James Worthy remembers Jerry West ... all this on today's hot takes.

First on "TMZ Live" Harvey and Charles dive into the financial issues surrounding Ben and Jen as they hurtle towards divorce.

Illinois basketball star Terrence Shannon Jr. has been found not guilty in his rape trial ... with the NBA prospect being acquitted of all charges on Thursday.

The decision was announced minutes ago ... with the jury coming to its conclusion after just over an hour of deliberation.

Shannon Jr. was accused of sexual misconduct following a trip to Lawrence, Kansas in September ... and was suspended from the Illinois basketball team after being charged with rape and sexual battery.

The O.J. Simpson murder saga has direct connections to the house owned by then-KCBS TV reporter Harvey Levin, and one of the connections involves what O.J.'s best friend might know about the killings.

Harvey, who covered the trial for KCBS, bought the Hollywood Hills house in 1984 from Wayne Hughes, who owned Public Storage. It was Wayne's bachelor pad, and he threw lots of parties. Among the guests ... his good friends O.J. and Nicole Brown Simpson.

During the trial, prosecutors wanted to call Wayne to the stand to testify about several occasions where Nicole came to the house in the middle of the night and cried out for help. She told Wayne O.J. had beaten her and she was scared of him. Judge Ito would not allow Wayne to testify.

Diddy is back in public, hot "rodent men" are taking over Hollywood and Joey Chestnut is in some hot dog water.

First up on "TMZ Live" Harvey and Charles dive into all things Diddy ... now that he's resurfaced amid the Cassie beatdown video and his various legal issues.

A middle school coach in Michigan is out of a job and facing criminal charges after cops say he used a shirt to choke a student in the hallway ... which was apparently caught on video.

Surveillance footage from Ypsilanti Middle School purportedly shows a coach -- an adult man, mind you -- approaching a teenage student from behind as the kid walks down the hallway towards the door, before the guy wraps a rolled-up shirt around the student's neck.

It looks like the coach -- who has yet to be ID'd --  yanks back on the shirt and a struggle ensues ... all while the shirt tightens around the kid's neck. Ultimately, the teen breaks free and the man lets up as the kid walks away.

Johnny Wactor's close friend is pressuring L.A. officials to find his murderers and hold them accountable ... organizing a march through downtown to keep the late actor's memory alive.

Micah Parker -- a fellow actor and one of Johnny's best pals -- spearheaded Wednesday's march, and we talked to him in the street  ... with him telling us Johnny's murder should be a wake-up call for the city, hoping those in power acknowledge there is a problem with crime.

TMZ broke the story ... Johnny was shot and killed by a group of thieves who were trying to steal his catalytic converter ... a type of theft that many Angelinos are very familiar with.

Goldie Hawn is no longer impressed with the twinkling lights of Tinseltown -- putting her hometown on blast for its rising crime ... and describing 2 horrific personal anecdotes.

The actress stopped by Kelly Ripa's 'Let's Talk Off Camera' podcast, where she hinted at plans to move out of Los Angeles ... this after 2 break-ins at her home within a short period of time.

Goldie says she and her husband Kurt Russell have kicked around ideas on where else they could live, noting Palm Desert is nice and safe  ... whereas L.A. is "terrible."

O.J. Simpson went back to the scene of the crime -- where he killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman -- and our own Harvey Levin happened to be there and a wild chase ensued.

The chase is part of a new Tubi documentary "TMZ Presents O.J.: How He Really Did It" -- marking the 30th anniversary of the murders -- in which Harvey tells a bunch of stories he's never told before during his days at KCBS TV covering the O.J. Simpson murder case.

Among the stories -- a week after O.J. was acquitted in the murder trial, Harvey drove a friend to Nicole's condo where the murders occurred, and a limo was parked in the alley. As Harvey pulled up, the driver looked in the side view mirror and the 2 made eye contact, then immediately turned on the ignition and started to drive away.

A Los Angeles-area home belonging to ex-NBA player Patrick Patterson was burglarized last week ... and now, TMZ Sports has learned cops are on the hunt for the culprits.

Law enforcement sources tell us ... the break-in happened just before midnight on June 7, when two men wearing masks, gloves and all-black outfits were captured on Patterson's security system rummaging through his home.

We're told the duo snagged two big bags of the former Raptors forward's belongings ... and booked it before LAPD officers arrived on the scene.

O.J. Simpson has some debts he needs to pay off in the afterlife -- which is why the executor to his estate is asking a judge to give him the greenlight to hawk his stuff.

Malcolm LaVergne -- who went from being O.J.'s longtime lawyer to now running his affairs in death -- just filed new docs that seek permission to sell certain items that were in O.J.'s possession at the time of his death ... which LaVergne says might be of great public interest.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, MLV notes that some of these items amount to potential memorabilia, which may fetch a pretty penny if put up for sale ... which is why he wants the OK to get into business with some auction houses.

A pool party in Compton ended in bullets flying and people running for their lives -- and TMZ has new video showing the chaos on the ground ... which ended with at least one death.

Check out this footage we obtained from a get-together on Friday in the L.A. neighborhood -- where a ton of folks were enjoying themselves and splashing around in the water, just in time for summer. Unfortunately, gunshots started to ring out when somebody opened fire.

Unclear what led up to the shooting, but the aftermath was tragic -- with at least one person left dead, and several others injured -- and now ... we can see how scared people were.

1:30 PM PT -- The Diddy roast cohost and organizer Brittany Brave joined "TMZ Live" on Tuesday and dismissed accusations that the jokes were out of place for a domestic violence event ... the allegations date back years and she says the timing was perfect!!!

50 Cent made it a top priority to be present at a Miami-based roast with sauteed Diddy on the menu ... and he was hoping to see his nemesis in person!!!

50 was a VIP at a brand new venue The Dead Flamingo Pop-Up's unfiltered brutal roast of Diddy hosted by comedians Brittany Brave and Danny Creamcity ...  which spared the embattled music mogul NO mercy.

Chrisean Rock got thrown into handcuffs and hauled away by cops after she walked into a courthouse this week with her baby -- and now we have a sense of what it's all about.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... the rapper was taken into custody Monday after she entered a courthouse in the San Fernando Valley ... where we're told Chrisean was swiftly pounced on by officers. BTW, Blueface's other baby mama, Jaidyn Alexis, was there too ... although it doesn't seem she was rolling with Chrisean.

Anyway, we're told 5 LAPD cops were already waiting for Chrisean when she walked in -- so it appears this might've been planned ahead of time ... and as soon as she entered, they were on her.

Tory Lanez' prison stay will likely outlast his marriage ... his wife of almost a year is divorcing him ... TMZ Hip Hop has learned.

According to court documents we obtained, Raina Chassagne filed her divorce petition last week, citing the usual irreconcilable differences as her reason for the split.

It doesn't appear she ever bothered to change her last name to Peterson to match Tory's legal name.