Weapons & Guns

A Miami Dolphins player is devastated by the mass school shooting that happened in his own backyard ... and he's calling for change.

Andre Branch gave TMZ Sports his take on the tragedy the morning after 17 high school students and teachers were gunned down in Parkland, Florida -- less than 30 miles from his home in Ft. Lauderdale -- and he essentially echoed Warriors coach Steve Kerr in calling for stricter gun laws.

"We live in a sick world," Branch said. "There's no reason that an individual, a child, should walk into a high school and be able to shoot up his peers and teachers."

FYI, Kerr went off after the shooting on Wednesday, saying -- "It doesn’t seem to matter to our government that children are being shot to death, day after day in schools ... it's disgusting."

1:29 PM PT -- Cruz confessed to the shooting and told cops he was hiding extra ammunition in his backpack, this according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press.

Nikolas Cruz -- the 19-year-old man accused of murdering 17 people at his old high school in Parkland, Florida -- appeared in court for the first time Thursday.

Cruz, accompanied by two attorneys and several police officers, remained silent while his charges -- 17 counts of premeditated murder -- were read aloud. Cruz will be held without bond.

As we reported ... Cruz threatened 9 months ago to carry out a mass shooting ... posting a comment on a YouTube video about the Texas University clock tower shootings, saying "I am going to [do] what he did." He also said he wished "to kill as many as I can."

Nikolas Cruz was hooked on weapons and violence ... and that obsession was played out over and over again on his social media pages.

The 19-year-old posed with guns, knives and even bragged about killing a frog on his Instagram account. Cruz is also seen sporting a Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" hat in another post ... and Cruz allegedly posted pics of shotguns and military-grade rifle bullets on another personal Instagram account.

As we reported ... Cruz participated in at least one training exercise with a white supremacist group.

Cruz -- who 9 months ago threatened to carry out a mass shooting -- is accused of using an AR-15 rifle to carry out the murders. He remained silent while his charges -- 17 counts of premeditated murder -- were read aloud Thursday in court.

The man who allegedly shot and killed 17 people at his former high school reportedly trained with a local white supremacist group in Florida before the massacre.

Jordan Jereb -- the leader of the white supremacist group Republic of Florida (ROF) -- told the Anti-Defamation League Thursday suspected gunman Nikolas Cruz had participated in at least one training exercise of theirs near Tallahassee, carpooling with other members.

Jereb said Cruz was "brought up" by another ROF member, but added that neither he nor anyone in ROF had directed Cruz to carry out the alleged crime.

Lil Pump was arrested Wednesday night at his home after he fired a gun, but the reason he discharged the weapon is in dispute ... TMZ has learned.

According to law enforcement, Pump's manager reported 3 men were jimmying the rapper's front door, trying to get into his San Fernando Valley home around 4 PM, and the suspects fired a gun once through the door. The manager was not at the house, but was relaying info to cops after speaking to Pump.

When police responded, they found a bullet hole in the front door. However, there were no suspects on the scene. Cops say the 17-year-old rapper had been smoking marijuana, and after talking to him they found holes in the intruder story.

Cops say the trajectory of the bullet hole shows it came from inside the home. Police returned a few hours later with a search warrant ... and found a handgun in the bushes below the balcony of Pump's apartment. The weapon was unloaded, but cops found ammo for the gun in the apartment. Cops felt Pump had fired the gun into the door -- not an intruder -- and arrested him for discharging a weapon in an inhabited place.

There's more potential trouble for Pump's family -- police found marijuana in the apartment, and his mother was not home. We're told she's under investigation for endangering a minor and having an unsecured gun at home.

Pump is currently being held in juvenile detention.

The man who has been arrested for shooting and killing 17 people at his old Florida high school was walked right into jail early Thursday morning wearing a hospital gown.

19-year-old Nikolas Cruz was marched into the Broward County jail wearing what appears to be hospital issued garb. He has been accused of killing or injuring scores of students and staff in a horrific mass shooting at his former high school in Parkland, FL.

Former classmates told news outlets he'd shown off some of his guns before getting expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Police also say his social media searches were disturbing.

Why did WWE superstar Shelton Benjamin fear his life was in danger when he found a LOADED GUN in the glove compartment of his Budget rental car?

"Me being a big black guy in a car with a gun in it? There's no way that scenario ends well for me if the cops come."

Yeah, that REALLY happened to Shelton last week in Kansas City -- where he discovered a loaded Ruger pistol with a spare clip that somebody else had left in the glove box.

Shelton says his mind raced when he first saw the gun -- wondering if it was used in a crime and if cops would wrongly think it belonged to him.

But Shelton handled things the right way -- saying he called police immediately and explained the situation ... and cops were cool when they came to collect the weapon.

In fact, cops told Shelton they see similar situations with guns left in rental cars "all the time."

Yeesh.

We reached out to Budget for comment -- so far, no word back.

Hopefully, Shelton gets some free rentals out of the situation ...

2/14 -- The suspect has been identified as David Lee White, Jr. of Greensboro. He's currently being held on no bond.

Fantasia Barrino's dealing with another family tragedy -- the death of her oldest nephew, Tyquan ... TMZ has learned.

According to law enforcement sources ... the singer's 18-year-old nephew died of multiple gunshot wounds Tuesday morning following an argument at a Greensboro, North Carolina residential complex that spilled out into the street.

Paramedics attempted life-saving measures on Ty, and he was transported to Moses Cone Hospital ... but died shortly after. Cops have arrested a 21-year-old suspect, who's been charged with first degree murder.

Barrino posted the sad news on her Instagram Tuesday, saying ... "Auntie is So Sorry Baby. RIP to my Oldest Nephew Please Pray for his Mother and my Brother & his Stepdad." Tyquan, who went by T.W., was the son of Fantasia's musician brother, Ricco.

Ricco tells TMZ ... he's completely devastated, because he didn't get to see T.W. in the morning Tuesday like he usually does, and now he's gone.

San Francisco 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster was arrested this weekend for domestic violence and possession of an assault weapon ... making this his 2nd arrest in a month.

According to the Los Gatos Monte Sereno Police Department ... Foster was arrested Sunday morning after cops responded to a welfare check and possible disturbance call. They say the 49ers star was arrested without incident.

He was booked on three separate charges -- domestic violence, threats and possession of an assault weapon. No further details were immediately available.

Foster was also arrested in Alabama about a month ago to the day for marijuana possession.

Stitches has a real reason to smile -- no need for that tat across his face -- because his lawyer scored him a pretty damn good deal in his felony gun case.

The rapper struck a plea deal that'll place him in an intervention program instead of behind bars following his January 2017 arrest for carrying a Glock and 2 magazines of ammo in his car.

According to legal docs obtained by TMZ ... Stitches can't possess any firearms until he obtains a gun license. He must also complete 25 hours of community service and a firearm safety course.

TMZ broke the story ... Cops busted Stitches in Miami after pulling out of a handicap parking spot. Stitches tells TMZ he's thankful the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office is giving him this opportunity for a fresh start.

Cardi B's feud with the Crips is setting off a red alert, and the L.A. nightclubs where she's appearing for NBA All-Star Weekend will be rolling DEEP with armed security ... TMZ has learned.

Cardi has an exclusive deal to host at 3 clubs next weekend -- all under the same ownership -- and our sources say they're preparing for the worst ... as in, possible gang violence.

TMZ broke the story ... Cardi's been flooded with violent threats from Crips who feel she dissed them by captioning a pic of herself in a blue fur coat, "I hate wearing Flue."

We're told the clubs -- Murano, Penthouse and Ace of Diamonds -- are tripling the number of armed security guards they'd normally hire. They've also put off-duty cops on the payroll, who'll be in uniform at the clubs.

Our sources say club management held an emergency meeting Wednesday to discuss how to handle the crisis. Canceling was never an option -- we're told Cardi's getting around $250k for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday night gigs, and her team hasn't made a peep about pulling out.

Still, we're told club owners are taking the threats seriously, and want to make sure Cardi and all club patrons are safe.

Dana White is building a personal weapons room in his Vegas mansion (seriously) ... so he hit up the guys from "Pawn Stars" to buy a REAL combat-used samurai sword.

The UFC boss had a hard bargaining sesh with Chumlee and Big Hoss over a whole batch of blades -- which the guys claim can be traced back to the families of the samurais who used them.

And in a matchup of equally intimidating bald dudes, Dana and Rick Harrison negotiated for the final sword -- bringing his total bill to $69k.

White made hundreds of millions on the UFC sale -- so we think he'll be alright.

DJ Khaled's fiancee's brother was murdered after an alleged drug deal gone bad ... TMZ has learned.

Cops say Nicole Tuck's younger brother, Jonathan, was shot in the face after he allegedly showed up at a Bronx apartment Sunday to buy weed. We're told the apartment was less than a mile from Tuck's home ... he allegedly got into an argument there and was shot. He was taken to a hospital where he died.

Law enforcement sources tell us a 34-year-old man was taken in for questioning about the incident.

Khaled and Nicole had a son, Asahd, in 2016.

Super Bowl LII is shaping up to look a little bit like a militarized zone based on all the armed security running around Minneapolis ... with Humvees and whatnot.

Homeland Security's got their Special Response Team on the ground in and around U.S. Bank Stadium -- where the big game will be played Sunday night.

From the looks of these pics, HS staffers are strapped and ready to respond to anything ... with bulletproof vests, walkies and Humvees at their disposal. Makes sense ... big events like this have become targets for attacks as of late -- think Vegas, Manchester, etc.

Better safe than sorry.

Ex-NBA star Ben Gordon has officially been hit with multiple criminal charges stemming from his robbery arrest in L.A. back in November, TMZ Sports has learned.

We broke the story ... the former Chicago Bulls star was arrested at a downtown L.A. apartment building after allegedly pulling a knife on the building manager, punching him in the face and demanding his security deposit back. He allegedly made off with a couple thousand dollars.

The case was kicked over to the L.A. City Attorney's Office which decided to move forward with 4 misdemeanor charges against Gordon -- battery, brandishing a weapon, criminal threats and carrying a knife in plain view.

We're told if he's convicted on all counts, he faces up to 3 years behind bars.

Young Dolph is keeping his eye on the prize after getting shot last year -- which, interestingly, hasn't changed much ... it's all about money.

We got the Memphis rapper at Phipps Plaza in Atlanta Monday where he told us he'd just dropped $40k on some furs -- keeping in line with his newfound (old-school?) focus after taking a bullet to the ass last fall.

As we reported ... Dolph came under fire while shopping in Hollywood. He was struck in the butt, but recovered just fine ... as you can clearly see here.

When it comes to other rappers avoiding trouble -- like Kodak Black, who just got sent back to jail -- Dolph's advice is simple. Duck and cover ... and remember the green.