Weapons & Guns

Ahmaud Arbery's mom says her son's death has become a full-blown business for one of her son's friends, a former coach and others -- and she's blasting all of them for profiting off tragedy.

Wanda Cooper-Jones says she's alarmed by the "I RUN WITH MAUD" social media pages, which were initially started as a memorial to her son. She says Ahmaud's friend, Akeem Baker, came to her with the idea and she was on board at first, but doesn't like the fact the page is now being run like a business.

She also says she's being denied administrative access to the page.

Wanda claims Akeem even started a GoFundMe page for her son -- which she never asked him to do -- and it's raised nearly $2 million. The page says the money's going to Wanda, but she's already back to work.

Ahmaud's mother is also incensed someone filed for an "I Run With Maud" trademark. She doesn't say who did it, but does say the applicant never even knew Ahmaud.

Next on her list is Foundation 2.23 ... which refers to the date Ahmaud was killed. Wanda says it was founded by Jason Vaughn, a local high school coach who did not have a close relationship with Ahmaud. She says the org held a big fundraiser, but wants to make it clear the foundation is not affiliated with her family.

She says she could not stay silent in the face of what she sees as injustice. Wanda's bottom line is ... she's not asking for any money, because no amount of cash can change the fact she had to bury her son.

Jacob Blake appeared publicly for the first time after being shot in the back 7 times and paralyzed ... he entered a plea in his criminal case from his hospital bed.

Jacob made a court appearance via video Friday, on charges unrelated to the incident in Kenosha. He was sitting in his hospital bed, wearing a blue dress shirt with a yellow tie.

Blake's accused of criminal trespass, disorderly conduct and 3rd-degree sexual assault. The charges were filed before he was shot by police, and they are unrelated to the shooting which left him unable to walk.

Jacob briefly spoke to the judge when asked if he understood the charges against him ... he pled not guilty to all 3 charges.

As you know ... Jacob was shot 7 times in the back by a cop as he tried entering his vehicle.

A potentially big development in the Breonna Taylor killing ... at least one of the cops who raided her home appears to have been wearing a body cam, raising questions about the police department's earlier statements that there was no body cam video of the shooting.

Officer Tony James is seen in this photo clearly wearing a body cam. The photo was obtained by VICE news, and it contradicts the police chief, who said after the shooting the officers involved are in divisions that don't require body cams.

What we don't know ... was the camera operational during the shooting? If it was, it could be the critical piece of evidence to determine exactly what happened inside Breonna's home.

A second officer -- Myles Cosgrove -- was also photographed with a body cam mount, but a camera was not attached.

Breonna, who was shot multiple times in the raid, and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were sleeping on March 13 when cops came to execute a search warrant involving her ex-boyfriend. They used a battering ram to gain entry and Walker fired a warning shot from inside.  He says cops never identified themselves ... police say they did.

Walker's shot hit a cop, and officers responded with 35 rounds. One officer blindly fired 10 rounds. When cops wrote up their report they said Breonna was not injured.  That was a lie.

As we reported, local prosecutors tried to squeeze a plea deal out of Breonna's ex-boyfriend, telling him if he would say Breonna was dealing drugs they would cut him a sweet deal -- possibly probation instead of 10 years in prison. Cops have no evidence Breonna was involved in drugs and the family says it's a shocking case of trying to smear Breonna's name in order to protect the cops who killed her. The ex-boyfriend rejected the deal.

Joe Biden spent over an hour face-to-face with Jacob Blake's family ... and even spoke with Jacob by phone from his hospital bed.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said the Democratic Presidential nominee, along with his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, spent a "very engaging" 90-minute in-person meeting with Jacob's father, sisters and brother in their hometown of Kenosha, WI. Crump joined by phone along with Jacob's mother and Jacob himself from his hospital bed.

Crump, the Blake family's attorney, says they were "very impressed that the Bidens were so engaged and willing to really listen." He added ... "They talked about changing the disparate treatment of minorities in police interactions, the impact of selecting Kamala Harris as a Black woman as his running mate" and his plans for change.

As for Biden's convo with Jacob himself ... Crump says the candidate extended "a sense of humanity, treating him as a person worthy of consideration and prayer."

The sit down comes less than a week after Jacob's father spoke by phone with Biden and Harris.

Damian Daniels, the African-Amerian Army vet killed by cops in Texas, was desperately in need of mental counseling, and not sheriff's deputies responding with force ... according to the family's lawyer.

Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt and Damian's brother, Brendan, joined us on "TMZ Live" to discuss the case which is stirring outrage in the San Antonio area and beyond. Brendan says his family was doing everything they could to avoid having police check on Damian -- a combat veteran who was experiencing some mental distress.

He told us why they purposely called the Red Cross, and not cops, to do a welfare check on his brother just over a week ago -- but in the end, he says the Red Cross ended up calling the Bexar County Sheriff's Department. Brendan and Lee believe that's where things took a horrible turn.

When deputies arrived at Damian's home he was armed, and a struggle ensued with deputies who ended up fatally shooting him. The Sheriff's Dept. claims Damian was suicidal, but Lee and Brendan say that's just not true.

They know Damian was hurting, struggling with mental issues brought on by several recent deaths in their family -- but they don't believe for a second he was threatening to anyone. As for his weapon ... Texas is an open-carry state and the gun was legally owned. Brendan says his brother actually got it while serving America in the Army.

A Bay Area police officer's been charged with voluntary manslaughter for shooting and killing a black man who was wielding a bat in Walmart.

The San Leandro cop, Jason Fletcher, made no attempt to de-escalate the situation before fatally shooting 33-year-old Steven Demarco Taylor ... according to Alameda County District Attorney, Nancy E. O’Malley.

The D.A. claims Taylor didn't pose an imminent threat of death or great bodily injury to Fletcher or others in the store, and says she made the decision Wednesday to charge the officer with manslaughter.

As we reported ... cops responded to the Walmart outside Oakland on the afternoon of April 18, and encountered Taylor with an aluminum bat in his hands.

Police say they used Tasers on him first near the shopping carts area, but video showed he was shot multiple times by either a Taser or a gun ... even after he had dropped the bat and fallen limp to the ground.

Prosecutors claim Fletcher did use a stun gun on Taylor first, but then shot him in the chest. The entire encounter lasted roughly 40 seconds.

Silento allegedly got loud and threatened people with a hatchet while trying to find his girlfriend ... and now he's facing felony charges.

The "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)" rapper was arrested last weekend after a bizarre incident in which law enforcement sources tell us ... he walked into a house with a hatchet in hand as he looked for his GF.

We're told someone in the house screamed for help and others took him down and disarmed him. Our sources say shortly afterward, Silento's friend arrived and told him it was the wrong house ... and they fled as cops were called.

Police caught up with the rapper, though, and took him to jail. He's now officially been hit with 2 felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

Cameras captured L.A. Rams head coach Sean McVay when he watched the Jacob Blake police shooting for the first time ... and his reaction is emotional.

"Are you f*cking kidding me?" McVay says in shock ... "What the f*ck is wrong with people?!"

The moment played out in the opening scene of Tuesday's episode of the HBO docu-series "Hard Knocks," which follows the Rams through training camp.

In this powerful scene, Artis Twyman -- the Rams' Director of Communications -- brings the video to McVay because he thinks it's important for the head coach to see.

"His kids are in the back," Twyman explains while showing McVay the August 23 incident which took place in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

McVay, astonished, says to Twyman -- "That is awful. That makes me sick."

McVay discussed the possibility of canceling practice the next day in the wake of the shooting ... but ultimately held a normal practice.

The team did hold a team meeting to discuss the shooting.

Of course, many NFL teams did cancel their scheduled workouts so players could take action after the shooting ... including the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers and more.

The L.A. Chargers -- also featured on "Hard Knocks" -- canceled a scrimmage after the shooting and the announcement from head coach Anthony Lynn was also featured on the show.

Breonna Taylor's boyfriend is going after Louisville police for the allegedly botched raid at her home that left Breonna dead, claiming he's the victim of police misconduct ... and he didn't actually shoot one of the officers.

Kenneth Walker filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday, asking the judge for a declaration of immunity from prosecution in the criminal case for firing a single "warning shot" after cops rammed the door to enter Taylor's apartment in the middle of the night back in March while executing a search warrant.

As you know ... police claim Walker's shot struck Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in the femoral artery in his thigh, but his legal team refutes that.

Walker's lawyers say evidence indicates that police may have shot Mattingly as they were "firing wildly from various angles."

According to the lawsuit ... Walker was interrogated by police after the shootings and was then wrongfully and illegally arrested, detained, charged and prosecuted.

Walker now wants to avail himself of Kentucky’s stand your ground law, which he claims operates to prevent law enforcement from prosecuting him after he fired the shot in self-defense. In other words, it seems the lawyer is saying Walker had a right to fire a shot under the stand your ground law, so he would therefore be immune from criminal prosecution.

According to the docs, he's specifically concerned about being hit with an attempted murder charge that was previously dropped without prejudice.

Taylor's boyfriend is also seeking damages for assault, battery, false arrest and imprisonment, malicious prosecution, abuse of process and negligence stemming from the incident.

As we've reported ... none of the officers involved in the raid and shooting of Taylor have been arrested, though one cop -- Brett Hankison -- has been fired.

G Herbo says the police will kill black people at any moment ... and he's warning black youth to learn this lesson early so they know how to act in certain situations.

We got the Chicago rapper Friday at LAX and asked how he's coping with the Jacob Blake shooting, and how it's affecting black kids across the country.

G Herbo says there's a harsh reality to be learned from what happened in Kenosha and elsewhere -- he says cops want to kill black people, so you gotta take that into account during interactions with them.

The way G Herbo sees it ... the only way to solve the problem is to face the facts ... he says black people are at a disadvantage in dealing with police, and they've got to realize the odds are stacked against them if they want to survive.

A man was shot and killed Saturday night in Portland as hundreds of Trump supporters caravaned into the city and clashed with Black Lives Matter protesters.

The MAGA procession drew around 600 vehicles as they drove in late Saturday ... some of them armed. It didn't take long before clashes between the 2 groups erupted.

You hear shots ring out in the video and police find a man on the street who was hit. He was pronounced dead. There are reports the man was wearing a hat that read "Patriot Prayer" ... the moniker of a far, right-wing group that has made its presence known before on the streets of Portland. It's unclear if police identified the person who fired the shots.

For his part, Donald Trump could not have been happier a caravan of his supporters were rolling into Portland. Hours after the violence, he tweeted, "Great patriots."

In addition to the fatal shooting, some MAGA supporters were shooting pepper spray and paintballs at BLM protesters.

And, this is frightening ... organizers described the event as "concealed carry." Nevertheless, some of the MAGA supporters were openly displaying weapons.

A frightening scene Saturday in Tallahassee, when a guy pulled a gun on a Black Lives Matter protester during a demonstration over the shooting of Jacob Blake.

The protest was held at the Capitol Building, and the clash between protesters and counter-protesters escalated quickly. Witnesses say it started when a counter-protester went up to a number of protesters, began arguing with them and then started taking photos of the license plates on their cars.

One witness says someone in the crowd punched the man and he drew his handgun and pointed it at a BLM demonstrator ... who immediately got on his knees and put his hands up in the air.

Cops descended on the armed, counter-protester and arrested him.

The civil unrest triggered by Jacob Blake's shooting has many citizens in and around Kenosha rushing to stock up on guns to protect themselves and their businesses.

Gun and ammo stores in the area are seeing a huge surge in folks trying to buy firearms, with many customers coming from neighborhoods smack in the middle of the unrest.

Joesph LaJoy, owner of LaJoy Precision Inc in nearby Pleasant Prairie, WI, tells TMZ ... he completely sold out of every handgun, shotgun, and all ammunition after fielding at least 150 phone calls per day in the wake Blake's shooting.

LaJoy says the majority of sales were from people who did not previously own guns or ammo, and they're looking to protect themselves and their homes.

Meanwhile, at Red Dot in Lake Villa, IL near where "vigilante" shooter Kyle Rittenhouse hails, the gun store manager tells us they sold nearly 100 firearms in a single day this week, and they're getting close to selling out completely.

We're told folks were frantic and scared coming into Red Dot, and many became upset when they learned there's a 72-hour waiting period to obtain a firearm in Illinois.

Over at 5 Star Firearms in Zion, IL, the manager, Clinton, tells TMZ ... the store is sold out of all rifles, handguns and ammo, and it only took 2 days to clear the shelves.

Clinton says thousands of people were coming in ... saying they're looking to protect their businesses and homes. Most customers lived in Kenosha and Lake County, where Rittenhouse is from.

A similar scene unfolded at Outdoorsman Sports Shop in Winthrop Harbor, IL, where manager Paul tells us thousands of people flooded the shop this week, cleaning him out of .380 ammo -- the bullets used for handguns.

Bulletproof vest sales are soaring for one black-owned company that says people are seeking heightened protection during these turbulent times.

A spokesperson for the bulletproof vest business called Thyk Skynn, tells TMZ ... it's seen an increase in sales of nearly 400 percent over the past few months, and this week -- in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting and the ensuing violence -- orders are again skyrocketing.

The company was founded by a former Atlanta cop who says he started the business for innocent people craving protection.

The vests look different from traditional Kevlar vests ... they're more fashionable for starters.

The function, however, is the same ... Thyk Skynn's vests are meant to keep its customers from becoming the next victim of a senseless shooting ... whether by a cop or a citizen with a sick gun fantasy.

As you know ... protests against racism and to promote social justice reached a fever pitch this summer following the killing of George Floyd, and the movement's been reinvigorated after a white Kenosha, WI cop shot Blake in the back 7 times.

Jacob Blake's dad says he spoke to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for a full hour and he found it comforting because it felt like he was talking to family.

Blake's father, who's also named Jacob, says he and Blake's mother's were nervous at first to talk with the Democrats' Presidential ticket ... but says Biden and Harris calmed them down. The elder Jacob said, "I don't think people understand the worry of a mother. That's her baby."

He revealed how the conversation went down Friday morning on CNN's "New Day" ... saying it felt "like I was speaking to my uncle and one of my sisters -- literally, literally." Jacob's father added, "It felt like they knew what was going on. And, they didn't act like they were in a hurry to go anywhere. They spent time with us."

When asked if President Trump has reached out, Jacob said, "That's a negative." Trump also never mentioned Jacob Blake's name during his RNC nomination acceptance speech.

Jacob's father, who referred to Biden and Harris as President and Vice President, also touched on his son's leg being shackled to his hospital bed.

As we reported ... Blake's dad was furious after finding out his son was handcuffed to his hospital bed during a Wednesday visit. He questioned why that was even necessary since Jacob's paralyzed from the waist down after taking 7 shots to the back from a cop. Jacob's father said his son asked, "Why did they shoot me so many times?"

Jacob's dad pointed out ... "He can't go anywhere. Why do you have him cuffed to the bed?"

The 17-year-old arrested in the fatal shooting of 2 Jacob Blake protesters in Kenosha allegedly killed at least one unarmed man, and could get life in prison for murder ... along with 4 other felony charges.

The criminal complaint against Kyle Rittenhouse was released Thursday, and it says the first person the Illinois teenager allegedly shot, Joseph Rosenbaum, "appeared to be unarmed for the duration of video" reviewed by investigators.

Prosecutors say Rosenbaum appeared to throw an object at Rittenhouse before the fatal shooting, and a second video apparently shows the object in question was nothing more than a plastic bag.

The complaint also says Rosenbaum leaned in toward Rittenhouse -- apparently trying to reach for his gun according to a witness -- and then fell to the ground after 4 loud bangs. Then Rittenhouse got on his cellphone to make a call, and prosecutors say he was overheard saying, "I just killed somebody" as he ran away. He's been charged with first-degree reckless homicide for Rosenbaum's death.

Rittenhouse is also charged with first-degree intentional homicide (murder in most states) of Anthony Huber. Prosecutors say Huber -- seen with a skateboard in several videos -- approached Rittenhouse, who was lying on his back, and appeared to reach for Rittenhouse's gun. According to the complaint, Rittenhouse fired a round, sending Huber staggering away before collapsing to the ground and dying from a gunshot wound.

All told, prosecutors charged Rittenhouse with 5 felonies -- the 3 others are 2 counts of first-degree reckless endangerment and one count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide.

That last count was for allegedly shooting Gaige Grosskreutz, who prosecutors say appeared to be armed, and suffered one non-lethal gunshot wound.