Weapons & Guns

A rideshare driver's lucky to be alive after surviving a drive-by shooting ... as he tried to drop off some late-night passengers ... and it was all caught on video.

The incident went down Wednesday around 1 AM in Louisville, Kentucky where Patrick Hemmerle was on his way to drop off some of his passengers when, out of nowhere, a Ford Fusion pulled up and opened fire.

Check out the video ... the footage comes from Patrick's own dash-cam which shows bullets, glass and shrapnel flying across his dashboard as he and his passengers desperately try taking cover. You also see the moment the Ford sedan pulled up ahead of Patrick's Toyota SUV and someone inside starts firing away.

Patrick, a local real estate agent who drives Uber and Lyft to make extra cash, told WDRB cops told him these guys have been driving around shooting at random people.

UAB freshman linebacker Allen Merrick has died at age 19 .... after suffering a gunshot wound in what cops are describing as an apparent accidental shooting.

Details on the incident are unclear at this time, other than it happened in Merrick's hometown of Gadsden, Alabama. We're working on it.

UAB football head coach Bill Clark rushed to support Merrick and his family in the wake of the shooting. He had asked people to send prayers and support on Friday ... but unfortunately, Merrick passed away a short time later.

"Please pray for the family of Allen Merrick, a young man who joined our UAB Football Family this season," Clark said at the time.

"Allen was visiting home in Gadsden yesterday when he suffered a gunshot wound. He is at UAB Hospital where I've been with Allen's family, but I do not have a condition I can share at this time."

Gadsden PD confirmed the news to AL.com on Friday ... saying the investigation is ongoing, but it appears to be an accidental shooting.

Merrick -- a 3-star prospect -- was a star for Gadsden High ... earning Defensive Player of the Year honors.

"I ask that everyone please respect his family's privacy and keep them all in your prayers."

Former All-Pro linebacker Chip Banks -- the #3 overall pick in the 1982 NFL Draft -- is fighting for his life after he was shot in an apparent targeted attack in Georgia ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Cops tell us officers responded to a call about a shooting in the Atlanta area around noon on Wednesday and arrived to find 3 victims -- including Banks -- suffering from gunshot wounds.

One of the men, cops say, was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel.

The other two men -- including Banks -- were "alert, conscious and breathing" and transported to a local hospital for treatment, officials added.

We're told 60-year-old Banks, the 1982 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, is currently in "serious condition."

As for how the shooting went down ... cops told local media outlets Wednesday they believe a group of 5 or 6 men with masks on rolled up to the residence, shot a man in the driveway and then went inside and shot the other two men before running off.

Cops told local outlets they do not believe the shooting was random -- in other words, it appears at least one of the men was the target of a hit.

"Detectives are actively investigating the circumstances surrounding this incident," a spokesperson for the Atlanta Police Dept. tells us. "The investigation continues."

Banks was a pretty big star in the NFL in the 1980s and early 1990s ... playing for the Cleveland Browns, San Diego Chargers and Indianapolis Colts.

The guy accused of shooting at Lil Wayne's bus in 2015 has copped a pretty sweet plea deal ... but we're told he's not getting out of jail just yet.

Jimmy Winfrey has pled guilty to 2 counts of violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act ... this according to new legal docs obtained by TMZ. As part of the deal, prosecutors have dropped a slew of other charges -- 4 counts of violation of the RICO Act, 6 other counts of violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, 12 counts of aggravated assault, 2 counts of criminal damage to property in the first degree and 1 count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

He was sentenced to 7 years in prison ... a much lighter sentence than what he got in 2015, when the judge threw the book at him with a 20-year sentence. The Georgia Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 2018 and so the case went back to square 1.

And, get this ... Winfrey got credit for time served and set to be released, but Winfrey's lawyer, Steve Sadow, tells TMZ ... the reason his client hasn't been released involves an unrelated outstanding warrants case. Sadow wants to be clear ... Winfrey entered a special kind of guilty plea where his client maintains his innocence, despite pleading guilty.

As part of the sentence, he's also gotta pay $100k in restitution to Alvin Lewis, the bus driver.

TMZ broke the story ... Alvin accused Birdman and Young Thug of striking secret deals with prosecutors in the case. Alvin had said he found it unusual Cobb County prosecutors described Birdman and YT as co-conspirators in the alleged shooter's indictment but did NOT bring charges against them.

Alvin made no bones about it ... he claimed there was overwhelming evidence of complicity among Winfrey, Birdman and Young Thug ... evidence that includes phone records, recorded confessions, and promises of payment.

Sources close to Birdman had told us the rapper denied any involvement in the case. Young Thug has never commented publicly on the incident.

President Trump was abruptly removed from his coronavirus briefing in what seemed like an immediate threat -- but he returned shortly to say it was due to a shooting outside the White House.

Trump's Monday evening news conference was interrupted by a Secret Service agent telling him he needed to leave, and there were reports the WH was on lockdown briefly as the press was asked to clear the lawn outside.

However, the Prez came back minutes later and told reporters there was a shooting outside and someone was taken to the hospital. He says Secret Service agents were responsible for the shooting, which he claims occurred just outside of the property at 17th and Pennsylvania Ave.

Video showed law enforcement tending to the person on the ground.

Trump says he waited in the Oval Office until he got the all clear, and told agents he wanted to return for his regular Q&A.

He went back to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic -- or as he still puts it, the "China virus" -- and the economy.

Law enforcement is still on the scene investigating the shooting.

George Floyd was terrified and afraid when cops first approached him in his car ... pleading for his life with a gun trained on his head.

The footage -- just released by a judge -- from Floyd's fatal interaction with Minnesota cops shows him begging Thomas Lane at gunpoint, "Mr. Officer, please don't shoot me." George also tells Lane his mom just died while pleading with him not to pull the trigger.

A distressed Floyd was finally yanked outta the driver's seat and police yelled at him to stop resisting arrest as they slapped on a pair of handcuffs. Lane and J. Alexander Kueng walked George across the street and tried to stuff him in the back of a police SUV ... and that's when things got way more tense.

In the video, George again says he's not resisting and didn't do anything, then sobs and wails while telling the officers he's afraid of getting in the back of the SUV because he's claustrophobic.

Floyd told the officers he's "going to die in here" as they manhandled him into the back of the car. He said he was scared and anxious, then screamed and sobbed as they forced him inside.

A massive struggle ensues and suddenly Floyd is on the pavement and Derek Chauvin's knee is pinned on his neck. All the while, George tells the cops he can't breathe.

You know what happens next ... Chauvin's knee remains on Floyd's neck for nearly 9 minutes and he dies.

Although a judge just made this video available to the media ... it had been leaked a week ago.

The L.A. County Sheriffs are under fire again after pointing guns at three black teens who actually needed their help following several 911 calls.

The incident went down Friday in Santa Clarita, about 35 miles north of L.A., and you see in the video a bunch of deputies roll up as several other deputies are already pointing high-powered weapons at the teens, who have their hands up.

Tammi Collins, the mother of one of the teens, says her son and a couple of friends were sitting at a bus stop when a homeless man asked if they had any crack and then tried to steal their stuff. She says the man became super aggro, ripped his shirt off and pulled a knife on them, and attempted to stab them.  She says the kids fended the man off with their skateboards.

Tammi says several 911 calls were placed and all but one claimed the boys were the victims, but one caller, she says, told the dispatcher "two black guys were attacking a homeless man."

The deputies have their weapons trained on the teens, as bystanders explained they were the victims, but the cops were unmoved. It's unclear if the teens were placed under arrest. We have no idea if the cops detained the homeless man, or if he was even around when they arrived.

We reached out to the L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. ... so far, no word back.

The Libertarian Party's candidate for President has been sidelined .... 'cause she was bit by a bat.

Jo Jorgensen had a rally scheduled in Louisiana but she had to cancel, because somewhere on the campaign trail a bat took a bite out of her. She announced, "I will not be able to attend the campaign rally tomorrow morning ... I will be getting a rabies vaccine as a precaution after having been bitten by a bat near the start of this campaign tour!"

It's no laughing matter ... these shots are supposedly super painful, but life-saving because bats can be carriers of rabies. People who contract rabies and don't get the vaccine have virtually no chance of survival.

"Mob Wives" star Drita D'Avanzo asked the judge to go easy on her husband in his federal gun case ... but instead, the judge dropped the hammer.

Drita and her 2 daughters were in court Friday for her husband Lee D'Avanzo's sentencing in New Jersey where judge Rachel P. Kovner sentenced Lee to 64 months in prison.

Lee's counsel argued a sentence of 37 months was more than enough because he took responsibility for the crime ... but federal prosecutors in Brooklyn wanted up to 46 months. Kovner wasn't having it, saying keeping 2 loaded guns with hollow point ammunition in a home with 2 daughters was extremely dangerous.

Kovner added she didn't have confidence Lee would learn his lesson if she gave him a lighter sentence. She also noted Lee has 6 prior convictions and had previously violated supervised release. She said she had a duty to protect the public. Once he's done serving his sentence ... Lee will be on 2 years of supervised release.

As we reported ... Lee apologized for his actions and pled guilty to gun possession charges in back March after the NYPD raided the family home and found the guns. Drita was eventually cleared of all charges.

Oprah Winfrey is amping up the pressure to get justice for Breonna Taylor by blanketing Louisville with billboards demanding the arrest of the cops who shot her.

Oprah purchased dozens of billboards Thursday in Breonna's hometown -- her latest push for justice in the case.

The new billboards will also feature the Until Freedom website, a social justice org whose mission is to address systemic and racial injustice. This same group organized a rally outside of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron's home, which resulted in 87 arrests. Their stories -- dubbed the "Louisville 87" -- are featured on Until Freedom's site.

There will be a total of 26 billboards across the city -- one for every year of Breonna's life. They're expected to be completed by Monday.

Remember, Det. Brett Hankison -- one of the 3 Louisville cops who fired their weapons during the deadly March 13 raid at Breonna's home -- has been fired but not charged.

The other 2 officers involved -- Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Det. Myles Cosgrove -- were placed on administrative leave, but that's it.

The family has also claimed Breonna's home was targeted by cops as part of the city's gentrification plan.

As we reported ... Breonna posthumously made history last week when she landed on the cover of Oprah's magazine, the first time EVER in the magazine's 20-year history O herself was not front and center.

The firearms seized in the FBI raid at Jake Paul's house are now in the hands of the Sheriff ... and we're told the guns aren't the reason the feds stormed the place with a warrant.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... there were multiple guns taken from Jake's crib in Calabasas during Wednesday's FBI raid, and they're now being held by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for safekeeping.

It sure seemed weapons may have been what drove the FBI to get a search warrant and, in a massive show of force, raid Paul's L.A. home, as well as his friend's home in Vegas. We do know the raids were somehow connected to looting at a Scottsdale, AZ, mall ... where Jake and his friend were front and center.

As you know ... aerial footage of the scene from ABC 7 showed law enforcement officials walking down Jake's driveway with rifles and perhaps shotguns.

We're told Sheriff's deputies seized the guns once FBI agents entered the home because the house was not secured and deputies couldn't just leave the guns laying around.

Our sources stress the guns were not taken as evidence of any crime, or FBI agents would have taken them themselves.

We broke the story ... Jake had 2 large guns prominently displayed in his bedroom, which were casually displayed in a recent YouTube prank.

Jake Paul hasn't been low-key about showing off his weapons, and a casual display of 2 firearms in a recent video may have been a factor in the massive response by the FBI during the raid at his home.

In the vid, the YouTube star got pranked by his pal, Tanner Fox, who hung up a bunch of photos of Jake's exes in his room. As you can see in the vid posted last month ... 2 large guns are clearly shown hanging on the wall at the 7:48 mark.

These guns look very much like the ones the FBI seized from Jake's Calabasas home Wednesday, as officers were spotted walking down his driveway with several weapons in hand.

As for the intense raid at his home ... the guns could very well explain why truckloads of agents in protective gear descended on the home. If the FBI feels things could get dangerous ... they suit up.

We've also learned the raid is somehow in connection with Jake getting arrested in Scottsdale during a George Floyd protest. The FBI says it's "investigating allegations of criminal acts surrounding the incident at Scottsdale Fashion Square in May, 2020."

As we reported ... Jake was in the mall and arrested for trespass and later charged with a criminal misdemeanor. However, the City Attorney has dropped the case -- apparently at the behest of the FBI -- and the more serious investigation has taken precedence.

This includes a second raid that took place around the same time as Jake's, about 300 miles away in Las Vegas at the famous Graffiti Mansion said to be owned by Armani Izadi, one of Jake's friends.

We got video of some people being led out of the mansion in cuffs, and law enforcement sources tell us the 2 raids are connected. However, it doesn't appear Jake or Armani were arrested.

Roger Goodell's latest effort to fight for social justice is being challenged by California prosecutors ... who are demanding the NFL stop running a video about the police shooting of Stephon Clark.

The California District Attorneys Association fired off a letter Tuesday to the NFL Commissioner outlining why it believes the Stephon Clark Legacy video, "though well intentioned," also "performs a disservice instead of a public service by omitting the crucial facts which preceded Mr. Clark's tragic death."

Among the complaints made by the association's president, Vern Pierson, is that the video leaves out the fact the Sacramento County D.A. and California Attorney General came to the conclusion the 2 police officers involved in Stephon's 2018 death broke no laws.

As we reported, the Stephon video is the 5th PSA created by Inspire Change -- a joint initiative between the NFL and Jay-Z's Roc Nation which aims to raise awareness about racial injustice and improve police and community relations.

In the video, Stephon's mother, Se’Quette Clark, walks viewers through the horrific night he was killed, and talks about the need for new laws to prevent more tragic police-involved shootings.

You might recall, officers opened fire on Stephon in his grandmother's backyard, believing he was brandishing a weapon.

Stephon, of course, was holding a cell phone. He was shot 8 times ... with 6 of those bullets striking him in the back. But, another complaint from the association is the NFL's video fails to mention Stephon was fleeing police who suspected him of vandalism.

The association wants Goodell to "produce a video that accurately depicts the conduct of all concerned in an officer involved shooting."

There were no NFL players involved in the fatal shooting at a raging house party in a swanky Los Angeles mansion, contrary to reports ... at least according to cops.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... they believe the Mulholland Drive mansion party that ended when shots rang out was a gang-related bash for the 8-Tray Gangster Crips, and they say they don't have any evidence to support an NFL player being there.

The fatal shootout went down early Tuesday morning, ending the wild party and sending three people to the hospital, one of whom is now dead. The other two gunshot victims are in critical condition.

While a man who claimed to be the head of security told CBS L.A. the party was in celebration of a player recently getting drafted by an NFL team, our law enforcement sources say cops believe the NFL player scenario was a cover story if any trouble happened. It's maybe not the brightest excuse -- the NFL Draft was held in April and rookies are already in training camps.

Video shows the moment gunshots ring out on the property, which was crawling with hundreds of people, many of whom were dropped off in buses. The driveway was also packed with luxury cars.

Our sources say the party had cake, balloons, decorations and loads of Crips ... but to their knowledge, no NFL players.

Breonna Taylor posthumously made history by landing on the cover of Oprah's Magazine ... the first time EVER in the magazine's 20-year history O herself was not front and center.

Oprah stepped aside for one of her final print editions ... dedicating the September cover with Breonna's image, declaring, "If you turn a blind eye to racism, you become an accomplice to it." These words are emblazoned on the cover ... "HER LIFE MATTERS."

O dropped the news on Insta ... where she gave a touching tribute to Breonna ... "She was just like me. She was just like you. And like everyone who dies unexpectedly, she had plans. Plans for a future filled with responsibility and work and friends and laughter."

A former Buffalo State football player is fighting for his life after being shot during an altercation at a liquor store Monday ... and cops have released the shocking footage in hopes of catching the suspect.

NYPD officials say a fight broke out between Malachi Capers -- a former D-end at Buff. State -- and another man after the two bumped into each other inside 136 Deli & Grill in Queens.

You can see in surveillance footage of the incident ... Capers brushed up against the man's shoulder -- and then the two exchanged words.

Eventually, fists started flying ... and that's when the former football player tackled the guy to the ground outside the store.

When the man was able to free himself from Capers' grasp ... you can see in the video, he pulled out a firearm and shot the 20-year-old in the stomach.

Capers is now reportedly in the hospital battling critical injuries.

Now, the NYPD says it's looking for the gunman -- who officials ID'ed as Jeffrey Thurston -- and is asking for any help in finding his location.

Buffalo State head coach Christian Ozolins, meanwhile, released a statement to multiple media outlets regarding the shooting ... saying, "Malachi was a well-liked member of our football family during his freshman year in 2018 and has remained a friend to many in our program as he has continued his education at Buffalo State after leaving the team due to on-going injury issues."

"We have him in our thoughts as we wish for a speedy and full recovery."