Weapons & Guns

The Kardashians' DASH store employees were forced to hide in a back room while a gun-wielding woman terrorized them ... according to the frantic 911 call.

TMZ obtained the gripping call one worker made to cops, moments after the suspect, Maricia Medrano, held her at gunpoint and trashed the store. You can hear the fear in the female employee's voice as she tries to describe the suspect for cops. She was especially panicked because Medrano was still there.

The employee told cops Medrano was ranting about killing the Kardashians if they didn't stay out of Cuba. As we reported, Medrano fled the store, but returned later with a machete.

Cops eventually arrested Medrano for assault and criminal threats. She's being held on $50,000 bail.

Young Thug's list of legal problems piled up while he sat in a jail cell ... because he's now facing 2 more felonies on top of a weed possession charge.

As we reported ... the rapper was arrested Saturday in Georgia by Brookhaven PD after he was pulled over for tinted windows. According to the police report, the cop searched Thug's Maybach because it smelled like marijuana ... and found drugs, 2 guns and almost $50k in cash.

YT and 2 men with him in his car were arrested and taken to jail. Thug's now facing a felony charge for gun possession, a felony charge for drug possession -- for narcotics and liquid codeine found in his car -- and the felony charge for weed.

He's still got the tinted windows charge, too.

Yo Gotti is on the LAPD's radar as a person of interest in the shooting of Young Dolph ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell us Gotti and Young Dolph were both staying at the Loews Hotel in Hollywood Tuesday when their crews got into some sort of disagreement. We're told just a short time later, shots were fired outside the hotel.

Our sources say witnesses at the scene told officers Gotti was involved.

It's certainly not the first time the two have been connected in beef ... back in February Blac Youngsta -- who is signed with Yo Gotti -- was accused of shooting over a hundred bullets at Dolph's SUV in Charlotte. Youngsta eventually turned himself in.

T-Boz Watkins, from TLC, believes cops gunned down her cousin in cold blood at the end of a standoff ... and she's demanding justice for her family.

The shooting happened last Wednesday in Peoria, Illinois -- police responded to a bank robbery and, after using surveillance video to identify the suspect as Eddie Russell Jr. ... tracked him down to a home. Police surrounded the home for 2 hours before 25-year-old Eddie emerged.

While police describe Eddie as aggressively advancing "toward officers with a handgun" -- T-Boz disputes that and says her cousin was unarmed. She also blames cops for "using" Eddie's mother to lure him out of the house. Her biggest issue is he had mental health issues, and she claims police knew that, and promised his mother they would "give him the help he needs."

Cops admit firing 18 shots, and say the coroner confirmed Eddie was struck 17-20 times. They also say they recovered a handgun that matches the one he allegedly had in the bank.

Police released an image from the surveillance video, but T-Boz isn't buying that's a gun in Eddie's hand. Now, she's just trying to get word out about what she considers a senseless killing.

Illinois State Police are investigating.

Aaron Carter's plan to buy a gun got thwarted by a computer.

As we reported ... a 911 caller told cops Aaron tried to buy a gun but got turned down. We spoke to the manager at the Florida gun shop, who says the singer was automatically denied after his background check got flagged. It's unclear what triggered the alarm.

The staff also noticed Aaron's odd behavior -- he was jumpy, bragging about himself and hitting on girls at the shop. The manager said he appeared unhinged.

5:57 PM PT -- Pattiz tells TMZ, “This guy must be crazy. I’ve never met alone with him. I didn't hire him or fire him. I barely know who he is. The fact that I'm a law enforcement reserve is well known as I have public service awards in my office.

He adds, "I didn't and would never act in the manner that's been described. We have received no lawsuit but I presume this is in response to our letting him know today that we are going to sue him. His allegations are absurd.”

An attorney for Podcast One tells us they're suing Hernandez for stealing intellectual property -- and they have no idea why he was canned from his most recent job.

Norm Pattiz, the entrepreneur behind PodcastOne and Westwood One, had a bad habit of whipping out a loaded gun and knife during meetings with a producer ... according to a lawsuit.

Raymond Hernandez says Pattiz brandished a handgun in their office on multiple occasions, and also bragged about his deep ties with law enforcement. In the docs, obtained by TMZ, he says the broadcasting mogul would sometimes place the gun on his desk with the barrel pointed at Hernandez.

According to the suit, the boss man flaunted the firepower in order to intimidate Hernandez -- who says he was told to juice the numbers on podcast downloads in order to boost advertising revenue. Hernandez says he let it be known around the office he wasn't comfortable fudging numbers, and was fired shortly thereafter.

Hernandez says the gun play was also motivated by revenge. Last year, comedian Heather McDonald aired a recording of Pattiz sexually harassing her while she was on the job -- he made a comment about supporting her breasts. In the docs, Hernandez says Pattiz thinks he leaked the audio to Heather, and eventually pressured Hernandez's new employer to 86 him.

Hernandez, with his attorney Rob Reichman, is suing Pattiz for assault, wrongful termination and whistleblower retaliation.

The woman who allegedly walked into the Kardashians' DASH store and pointed a gun at an employee returned later with a machete ... and shouted violent threats about killing the family.

The woman's rant on the sidewalk outside the shop in Weho was captured on video. She's seen pacing menacingly while holding the machete in the air and yells ... "The Kardashians will be executed if they step on Communist territory! They'll be f***ing killed!!!"

She then threatens to stab a person who tells her to shut up.

As we reported ... the woman walked into the store Thursday morning and allegedly pointed a gun at the cashier before leaving. She returned later and left the machete in the doors after her rant.

Cops are still searching for her.

A woman just walked into the Kardashian's DASH store in West Hollywood and pointed a gun at the cashier.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the woman showed up Thursday at 11:19 AM, and pointed a revolver at an employee. We're told the woman started ranting about Cuba, using phrases like "Free Cuba" and "Stay away from Cuba."

The woman then started knocking stuff off the counter and pointed the revolver again at the cashier and then just left the store.

Someone called 911 and cops swarmed the store.

It was not an attempted robbery, and we can confirm no one from the Kardashian brood was at the store.

An investigation is underway but so far the woman has not been apprehended.

1:56 PM -- The woman returned to the scene and left a machete. Law enforcement sources tell us witnesses saw her jump into a taxi and leave. Cops continue to look for her.

TMZ has obtained police video of the arrest of Jean-Claude Van Damme's son, and it's pretty intense.

TMZ broke the story, 21-year-old Nicholas Van Varenberg was arrested last Sunday in Tempe, Arizona, after a disturbance. Cops found a trail of blood leading to Nicholas's apartment, and apparently the roommate answered the door and let them in. Cops asked a few questions, then left.

But law enforcement sources tell us ... the roommate ran downstairs, claiming he had just escaped after Nicholas had been holding him at knifepoint ... furious he had opened the door.

The video starts when the cops returned to the apartment and are interviewing the roommate. It then cuts to the cops going down the hallway to arrest Nicholas. You heard him insist he had not gotten into a fight with anyone, but cops weren't buying it.

Police tell TMZ they searched the apartment and found a knife and weed. Nicholas was booked for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, unlawful imprisonment, marijuana possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.

"Pretty Little Liars" star Brandon Jones will be doing some jail time after all in his gun case, but it won't be for nearly as long as it could've been ... TMZ has learned.

The L.A. County DA tells TMZ Brandon pled no contest Monday to one count of misdemeanor assault with a firearm in his gun case from last year and was sentenced to 180 days in jail.

We broke the story ... Brandon was originally facing 5 and a half years in prison for allegedly pulling a gun on a neighbor during an argument he got into with the guy.

Brandon was also sentenced to 3 years probation, 30 days of community labor and 26 anger management classes in the plea deal.

Not even Andrew got it this bad on the show.

The gun nightmare is officially over for Buffalo Bills lineman Adolphus Washington -- who was found not guilty of improperly carrying a concealed handgun stemming from a incident at a water park.

As we previously reported, cops drew their weapons and stormed Washington's car when they saw him handling his gun while leaving a party at the Cincinnati-area waterpark on July 9.

Washington claimed he was innocently trying to put the gun away -- and wasn't trying to brandish it.

He was arrested and charged -- and Monday, the case went to a non-jury trial where he was found NOT GUILTY.

He's off the hook with the law -- but could still face discipline from the NFL.

Meek Mill insists he had nothing to do with 2 people dying outside the place he performed ... and the venue claims the people suing are a bunch of racists.

The rapper filed new legal docs defending himself in a wrongful death suit filed against him ... alleging his "thug" fans incited the violence at his December concert outside the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, CT.

In docs obtained by TMZ, Meek calls BS on the allegation his murderous lyrics incited the violence. Live Nation, which runs the Oakdale, is also being sued -- claims the victim's family has stooped to racial stereotypes by calling the fans "thugs."

As we reported ... a hail of bullets killed 2 and injured 2 outside the Oakdale Theatre.

Elon Musk delivered a serious warning to the United Nations that essentially goes like this ... BEWARE THE KILLER ROBOTS!!!

The genius behind Tesla, SpaceX and don't forget PayPal signed an open letter to the U.N. Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons ... the body is taking up autonomous weapons, including drones, tanks and machine guns.

Musk, who has warned about the dangers of A.I. before, said, "Lethal autonomous weapons threaten to become the third revolution in warfare. Once developed, they will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend."

Sounds like Musk doesn't want a SkyNet-style situation -- where the artificial intelligence programs become self-aware and angry ... and then humanity has to wage war with T-1000s, HK-Aeriels, etc.

"These can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways," Musk says.

He calls the autonomous arms race a Pandora's Box which, once opened, will be tough to close.

Musk was not alone in his concern ... 89 leaders around the world signed the open letter.

The nuclear brinkmanship between the leaders of North Korea and the United States has been good for at least one business ... bomb shelters.

We did some digging, just like the companies that are offering to trick out the homes of fearful Americans for a hefty price. Here's what we found.

-- Atlas Survival Shelters has sold more than 30 units in the last few days. The company is based in Southern California but the orders come far and wide ... as far away as Japan. Models start at around $10k. The owner says he considers himself the Henry Ford of bunker makers because he's making them "affordable for the everyday man." Top of the line goes for $165k. The owner tells us in the last 3 days he's sold as many shelters as he would have sold in 1 year, 6 years ago.

-- Rising S Bunker offers a starter bunker for $45k but the top-of-the-line, "The Aristrocrat," will set you back $8.35 million.

-- Vivos can dig 30 feet underground and customize your bunker ... starting at $35k. They're luxurious, a full size kitchen, spa, pool tables, but that'll cost you extra.

-- Safecastle offers a $19k bunker which is bare bones but it could still save you ... so they claim.

Check out the pics ... they're not your granddaddy's bomb shelters.

Tinashe now has legal protection against the obsessed fan who traveled from Boston to L.A. thinking they're married ... especially alarming given his renewed interest in guns.

Martin Murphy will have to stay 100 yards away from the singer, thanks to a new restraining order. He also can't own or even possess a gun.

She first obtained a temporary restraining order after learning Murphy tried to reinstate his gun license in Massachusetts. He's now required to turn over any weapons to either a gun dealer or law enforcement agency.

Chumlee's done partying his ass off ... in one spot anyway -- the infamous Vegas home where cops once found guns and weed is on the market.

The "Pawn Stars" cast member listed his 5 bedroom, 6 bathroom pad for a whopping $1,849,900. It's a sweet deal if he gets his asking price -- he bought it 5 years ago for $1.1 mil.

The 6,206 square foot pad has a pool, spa and guest house. It's really a bachelor's paradise where Chumlee famously partied hard ... until cops searched the house in March 2016 and found more than 120 grams of weed and 12 guns. He eventually got off with 3 years probation.

Kyle Gluhm from Realty ONE Group is listing the home, which includes the "Chum Chum" room ... stripper pole included. Strippers NOT included, we're guessing.