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The man who gunned down 19 children and 2 adults in the latest shooting massacre was telegraphing his deadly plan to a random woman on social media ... weeks before his act.

The messages have surfaced online from what appears to be a female minor in Los Angeles -- who says the 18-year-old suspect DM'd her on May 12 out of the blue and for no apparent reason at all ... explaining she has no idea who he is or why he reached out.

The alleged shooter tagged her in a photo he posted of his guns -- including what seem to be semi-automatic rifles that resemble AR-15s -- and then proceeded to start a private chat.

Of the many disturbing DMs he sent, this one was the most chilling ... "I got a lil secret I wanna tell u. I'm about to..." Apparently, he never revealed his exact intentions -- dancing around the subject/playing coy as the girl engaged him ... totally confused and flabbergasted.

The man went back and forth with her for a while, telling her she oughta be grateful he tagged her -- and then on Tuesday, he said this ... "Ima air out." The girl clearly didn't know what he was talking about, and seemed to acknowledge as much with follow-up questions.

In the aftermath of the onslaught Tuesday ... the girl revealed these messages and defended herself -- insisting she had no idea what this guy would do, and explaining she only engaged him to try to deter him from committing a horrible act.

The shooter, who we're not naming, shot his grandmother before heading to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX ... where he barricaded himself in classrooms and opened fire, eventually getting taken out by law enforcement.

He's said to have been armed with a rifle and a handgun during the bloodshed ... and apparently loaded up on a ton of heavy artillery on his 18th birthday, all of which seem to have been obtained legally.

Matthew McConaughey is pleading for gun reform following the tragic mass shooting in the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas ... which happens to be his hometown.

The actor shared his thoughts Tuesday, hours after the shooter went into Robb Elementary School and killed 21 people, including 19 students and 2 teachers.

He wrote, "As you all are aware there was another mass shooting today, this time in my home town of Uvalde, Texas. Once again, we have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us."

Matthew's added, "The true call to action now is for every American to take a longer and deeper look in the mirror, and ask ourselves, 'What is it that we truly value? How do we repair the problem? What small sacrifices can we individually take today, to preserve a healthier and safer nation, state, and neighborhood tomorrow?'"

His post continued, "We cannot exhale once again, make excuses, and accept these tragic realities as the status quo. As Americans, Texans, mothers and fathers, it's time we re-evaluate, and renegotiate our wants from our needs. We have to rearrange our values and find a common ground above this devastating American reality that has tragically become our children's issue."

Clearly knowing the national conversation will turn political, Matthew also urged folks on both sides of the political aisle to do better -- "Action must be taken so that no parent has to experience what the parents in Uvalde and the others before them have endured."

Monkeypox may be less transmittable than COVID, but the virus is exploding and most folks aren't immune to its effects ... so says, Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding.

The World Health Network Epidemiologist joined "TMZ Live," Monday, to talk about the once-considered extremely rare disease and why it might not be so rare this time around.

Dr. Feigl-Ding tells us, the virus may be less contagious than Covid-19, but we're in the early stages with numbers exploding all over the world.

He says, generally speaking, the big problem is most folks under the age of 50 have no immunity to the virus. On top of that, the incubation period is much longer than other viruses -- starting from 10 days up to 21.

Because of this, many folks can be further along before they realize they may have it ... and could potentially transmit it to more people.

Doc says we have to be careful, because Monkeypox didn't always transmit like this -- maybe a few cases here and there. Now, he hopes reluctant Americans will wake up and realize that wearing a mask might be a bonus to protect against all viruses like COVID and Monkeypox.

BTW, he says some folks still debate whether it is airborne or not, but no matter what, he says it's a huge issue.

It's officially out with the old, and in with the new for NYC ... cause the Big Apple's last public payphone booth is unplugged.

Officials removed the historic gem Monday morning -- located on 7th Ave. and 50th St. in Midtown Manhattan -- and it was truly the last of its kind.

And, just like that, no one will be asking for a dime to make a phone call anymore. This marks the end of the New York City public payphone era.

There are still 4 full-length so-called "Superman booths" in Manhattan's Upper West Side -- and, as you might expect, they're essentially museum pieces ... where kids use 'em for Instagram photoshoots.

The city started taking thousands of payphones off the streets, across all five boroughs back in 2015 ... and switched them out for public Wi-Fi hotspots.

The Wi-Fi hotspots allow folks to have free Wi-Fi, along with free phone calls within the U.S., access to social services directory, transit and weather alerts ... and folks can also charge many of their devices.

The eagle has landed for desperate parents, and it couldn't have come at a more needed time ... replenished baby formula is here, even though it's far from a permanent fix.

An emergency shipment of specialty formula arrived in the States Sunday via military plane -- which carried with it around 78,000 pounds of Nestle Health Science Alfamino Infant and Alfamino Junior formula ... able to fill upwards of half a million bottles, with more coming.

The touchdown of this new load was brought in from Europe on President Biden's orders -- and while there are another 114 pallets of Gerber Good Start Extensive HA formula scheduled to arrive soon ... it's still not quite enough to replenish shelves across the country.

As you know ... there's a massive shortage going on right now at supermarkets just about everywhere -- with parents reporting having to drive hours, in some cases, to find formula.

There's a variety of reasons for the shortage -- including plants having to either shut down and/or stall production -- but the government's working on getting those up and running again ... including Nestle, which'll do a standard quality check of this shipment ASAP.

After that, they'll be sent to doctor's offices, pharmacies and hospitals -- at least first -- and presumably, to grocery stores thereafter. It appears these shipments coming in are allergy-sensitive ... as it seems parents have struggled mightily to find such products for their kids.

In another gut punch for the family of the Buffalo security guard killed in the mass shooting, a scammer allegedly tried to steal thousands of dollars from their crowdfunding account.

Here's the deal ... there's an official GoFundMe for the family of Aaron Salter Jr., the retired police officer who was working security at the supermarket where the tragic shooting happened, and it's raised about $40,000.

But, Aaron's son says the fund was targeted by a scammer this week, who he says tried to steal his personal information and bank account numbers.

Aaron Salter III tells TMZ ... he was combing through a sea of messages on the GoFundMe when he came across a message from a user who claimed they wanted to donate $4k. But, when he clicked on the message, he says his personal info was instantly switched with someone in Mississippi.

Aaron's son says he was able to get in touch with the good folks at GoFundMe, and they got the account back in his family's hands.

A spokesperson for GoFundMe tells TMZ ... they responded to a phishing attempt against the Salter family, and quickly secured the account. We're told the funds are safe and are being delivered directly to the fam.

Aaron's son says they would have been devastated if the scammer had succeeded -- because he says, obviously, the last thing they need while grieving is someone trying to rob them blind.

Taylor Swift gave the commencement address Wednesday at New York University ... and there was an undercurrent to her talk that very subtly takes a shot at cancel culture.

Yankee Stadium was packed to the gills as Taylor took the stage and mused she's now a doctor ... after receiving an honorary degree ... she cautioned folks not to make her the go-to in an emergency.

Then she launched into her speech, which was all about her and her life. You could pass it off as somewhat self-indulgent, but there's a theme that seems to challenge cancel culture.

She talks about her cringeworthy moments over the years, and then drops undeniable knowledge on the grads ... that everyone has cringe moments in their life. It could be as superficial as the clothes you once wore -- something she talks about -- but it can go deeper -- much deeper.

Taylor says everyone makes mistakes, and she's always grown from hers and made her life better.

One way to look at this ... we have to tolerate mistakes and allow people to grow, not shelve them. As she said, there were reporters who suggested to her she might end up in pop star jail ... pop star jail is a form of cancel culture.

In any event, the crowd ate it up. BTW ... there's a class at NYU specifically on T.S.'s music.

The China Eastern plane that went up in flames in March after nosediving out of the sky and right into a mountain may have, in fact, been a deliberate act ... this per a new report.

Black box data from the downed Boeing 737-800 -- crashing somewhere in the mountains between Kunming and Guangzhou -- indicates no mechanical malfunction ... but rather, points to someone torpedoing the plane themselves, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The outlet, citing U.S. officials with knowledge of the investigation, says it'd been relayed to them that the plane "did what it was told to do by someone in the cockpit" -- at least that's what the preliminary assessment of this tragedy suggests thus far.

The fact that there's no indication something was wrong with the machinery has led regulators to look to the actions of the pilot manning the aircraft ... and although it seems likely they may have caused the "near-vertical" descent, WSJ notes officials aren't ruling out the possibility of somebody storming the cockpit and taking over the controls themselves.

With that said, China Eastern seems to have suggested no such storming took place -- their own investigation revealed an emergency alert to that effect was NOT sent as the passenger jet went down.

While all signs seem to point to the pilot, the airline said premature speculation could be detrimental to the investigation and to the air travel industry at large. Still, it appears this may be the most plausible explanation ... there've been ZERO bulletins issued addressing any structural problem from Boeing, so there's nothing wrong with their product.

As we reported ... the plane went into a complete freefall pitch from 29,000 feet in the air and went straight down for nearly 2 minutes -- pulling up briefly -- before ultimately slamming against a mountain range and killing all 132 people onboard.

A Lyft driver wasn't about to allow a racist couple into his vehicle -- getting in a nasty back and forth with the two -- before ultimately giving them the boot.

According to the driver, the whole thing went down outside a bar called Fossils Last Stand in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. He says the ride was for a woman named "Jackie" who allegedly owns the bar.

The video is intense, you first see "Jackie" enter the vehicle, shocking the driver when she says, "You're like a white guy. You're like a normal guy, you speak English." The driver then let her know he was canceling the ride, telling her how inappropriate the comment was.

That's when the woman's male friend enters the picture, escalating things, and telling the driver he should punch him in the face.

The driver calls the couple racist, and in turn, the man calls the driver a "n*****-lover."

T-Mobile caused one of its customers to lose 3/4 of a million bucks, and the guy who's out the money is now suing the phone company, claiming its security sucked so bad, someone just up and stole his money.

Calvin Cheng claims T-Mobile violated Federal laws that impose security regulations to ensure against hacking and outright stealing.

Cheng claims he's a customer of a company called Iterative ... a hybrid investment fund focused on crypto trading. He says in 2018 T-Mobile was the victim of a SIM-swap -- where a criminal third party convinces a wireless carrier to transfer access from one of its legitimate customers to a SIM-card controlled by the criminal.

Cheng alleges in 2020 ... T-Mobile allowed one of these criminal third parties access to Iterative's founder. The criminal third party, posing as the Iterative founder, convinced Cheng to send 15 Bitcoins to a digital wallet ... which he believed was controlled by Iterative. He was expected to cash it in for U.S. dollars but never received them.

He seems to be pegging the price of Bitcoin at the time of the fraud at $50,000 a pop -- hence the $750k in damages -- although now its value has plummeted to just under $30,000 a coin.

Cheng says T-Mobile's security lapses were a direct cause of his loss.

In addition to the $750,000, Cheng wants punitive damages and other costs.

The passenger who landed a plane after the pilot lost consciousness says he was "calm and collected" ... in no small part because he was about to become a father.

Darren Harrison spoke to Savannah Guthrie on "Today" ... and explained with all the buttons and gadgets on the control panel, it all came down to common sense.

The emergency was even more harrowing than first reported. The 39-year-old said after the pilot became incapacitated, the Cessna began to nose-dive at a high rate of speed.

Harrison was cool as a cucumber, saying, “I knew if I didn’t react, then we would die."

As he put it ... “I was pretty calm and collected the whole time because I knew it was a life or death situation. Either you do what you have to do to control the situation or you’re gonna die.”

Harrison, who works at a flooring company, said his wife, Britney, who was 7-months pregnant with their unborn daughter, was his inspiration. He also said there was an element of divine intervention, telling Guthrie “the hand of God was on that plane."

As he said, “I was climbing to the front and that plane was in a dive. I was just looking going, ‘I can’t die today. Britney’s pregnant, I’ve got a baby on the way — not today. Today’s not my day."

As we reported, Harrison contacted the tower operator who help guide him down to the runway, where he made a perfect landing ... just incredible.

There was a scary situation Saturday night in Vegas, when a stampede erupted after people thought they heard gunshots, and several people were trampled.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department tells TMZ ... "Shortly after 10 PM, gunfire was reportedly heard near the site of the Lovers & Friends Festival, causing a large group of attendees to exit the venue. At this time, there is no evidence of a shooting and the initial report has been deemed unfounded. Three people were transported to a local hospital with minor injuries. The show has since resumed."

The show was part of the Lovers & Friends Festival, a weekend event courtesy of Live Nation. It went down at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds. Performers included Lauryn Hill, Ludacris, Lil Jon, Mario, Monica, and TLC.

It was bedlam at around 10:30 PM, after people thought they heard gunshots. Thousands of fans beelined it for an exit, and some ended up on the ground getting stomped.

Security paused the concert and it resumed a short time later.

A tragic end to what was supposed to be an exciting stunt -- after a father miscalculated his cliff jump -- leading to his death as his family watched in horror.

The video is tough to watch, you see the man take a leap from the 100-foot cliff in Spain. Clearly, he knows something is wrong quickly, letting out a scream before clipping the jagged rock and hitting the water ... you hear the woman recording yell, "Oh my God!"

According to the Majorca Daily Bulletin, the woman recording was the man's wife -- his son was also present -- and they had rented a boat for the day to tour the rocks on one of the Malgrats Isles by Santa Ponsa.

The report says authorities were called to the scene shortly after the accident, and they were able to locate the man's body.

This is incredible ... a black hole smack in the middle of our Milky Way galaxy that is 4.3 MILLION times the mass of the sun!!!

The image was captured by The Event Horizon Telescope Group. Now get this -- it's located 27,000 light-years from planet Earth. Put another way ... as enormous as this hole is ... when you look up in the sky with a naked eye, it looks about as big as a donut on the moon. Wrap your head around that!!!

The hole is at the center of our galaxy and near the constellation Sagittarius. It is, indeed, supermassive. You want your mind blown again ... its mass is equal to 4 million suns!!!

It's being described as "the glue that holds the galaxy together."  As for how black holes are created ... it's when a gravitational pull is so intense nothing -- even light -- can escape.

This image was released days after NASA showed off super clear images of stars ... courtesy of the James Webb Space Telescope.

The $10 billion telescope is just beginning its work, which should unlock some of the mysteries of our universe.

Foot meet mouth.

Golf legend Greg Norman, when confronted about the heinous murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 ... said, "we've all made mistakes.".

Norman, a 2x majors winner who spent over 300 weeks as the world's number 1 ranked player in the '80s and '90s, is the CEO of LIV Golf, the new Saudi Arabian-backed golf organization.

GN met with reporters at media day this week and was asked about the killing of the Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul, Turkey.

“Everybody has owned up to it, right? It has been spoken about, from what I’ve read, going on what you guys reported," the 67-year-old said.

"Take ownership, no matter what it is. Look, we’ve all made mistakes and you just want to learn from those mistakes and how you can correct them going forward.”

Of course, there was immediate backlash to the comments ... because that "mistake" was the brutal killing of an innocent man.

Norman also attempted to highlight the good things happening in the middle eastern country.

“This whole thing about Saudi Arabia and Khashoggi and human rights, talk about it, but also talk about the good the country is doing to change its culture," Norman said.

"There’s not many countries that can stand up and be proud of that. They can’t be proud of their past — there’s a lot of countries in this world that have a cross to bear too — but they are looking after the younger generation.”

Sully's got nothing on this guy ... a passenger in a small plane took the controls midair after the pilot became incapacitated ... and by a miracle he was able to land the aircraft safely.

It went down Tuesday at the Palm Beach International Airport. WPBF-TV in Palm Beach obtained video of the emergency after air traffic control received an alarming radio call ... not from the pilot, but from the passenger ... "I've got a serious situation here. My pilot has gone incoherent. I have no idea how to fly the airplane."

A serious situation is a gross understatement ... but the dude stayed calm as the tower operator jumped to the ready -- "Roger. What's your position?" The passenger responded with this chilling message ... "I can see the coast of Florida in front of me. And I have no idea."

The tower operator said, "Maintain wings level and just try to follow the coast, either north or southbound. We're trying to locate you."

Locate him they did -- 25 miles from the airport. Somehow the tower operator gently gave instructions to the passenger and the plane not only landed safely, but it was also a respectable landing even for a licensed pilot!!!