Weapons & Guns

The NYPD has released 2 photos of a man they call a "person of interest" in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson ... and the man bears a striking similarity to the killer.

The photos certainly appear to be the assassin ... the nose of the killer caught on surveillance video looks identical to the man in the new photos.

The new photos reveal almost all of his face ... he is not wearing the mask the assassin wore during the shooting.

The wife of slain UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson says he had received threats before his shocking assassination on the streets of NYC.

In a phone conversation with NBC News read out by the anchor ... Paulette Thompson said, "There had been some threats basically. I don't know. A lack of coverage? I don't know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him."

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ there’s no official record of any threats being reported by Brian or any other UnitedHealthcare executives.

A man’s stepping forward with a jaw-dropping claim -- he says he may have figured out the whereabouts of the assassin who shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson ... all thanks to Citi Bike's tracking data.

A data scientist named Riley, who goes by @rtwlz on X, dropped a bombshell post, revealing how he's been scraping Citi Bike data every minute ... and he could see exactly where individual bikes go.

And here's the kicker -- he says the only northbound Citi Bike to leave within 10 minutes of the shooting near the Hilton hotel where Thompson was entering, left at 6:44 AM and headed straight to a location at Madison Ave & 82nd St at 6:52 AM.

NYPD has clear footage of the killer who opened fire on UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan ... but only from behind the suspect.

Cops released the surveillance images captured Wednesday morning outside the Hilton hotel on 6th Ave and 54th Street ... and it shows 50-year-old Thompson strolling into the hotel by himself around 6:45 AM. The shooter walks up behind him, draws a handgun and starts shooting from less than 10 feet away.

It appears the suspect fired his weapon, which was fitted with a silencer, at least 3 times ... before fleeing into an alleyway on the other side of the street. Police say he made his getaway on a bicycle, which was captured on a different surveillance camera, and rode into Central Park ... just a few blocks away.

Judge Mathis threatened to shoot a city worker all because a dump truck was blocking his driveway ... at least according to a new lawsuit.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, a man named Ricardo Acosta claims he was on the job with the L.A. Dept. of Water and Power in July 2023, working outside of Mathis' home when he says the TV judge started swearing at him.

Acosta claims Mathis was pulling out of his garage in his car, then got out of the vehicle and started hurling expletives ... yelling at Acosta to "move the f***** truck out of the way."

Young Thug may have sprung out of jail, but one of his co-defendants is still having a rough time behind bars ... dodging sharp, pointy objects that want to take him out!!!

According to reports straight outta Fulton County, Georgia ... YSL rapper Yak Gotti, AKA Deamonte Kendrick, was involved in an altercation on the inside with another inmate on Sunday, resulting in him being stabbed!!!

"Kendrick received treatment for minor injuries from a sharp object at the Fulton County Jail," Fulton County Sheriff's Office Communications Director Natalie Ammons tells TMZ Hip Hop.

President Biden's annoucement Sunday that he's pardoning his son Hunter was nothing close to a spur of the moment decision ... TMZ has learned.

White House-connected sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Biden had this planned for more than 3 months.

Our sources say President Biden was not involved in Hunter's case in any way until June of last year, when a plea deal was rejected by the judge. We're told he was "agitated" at the reversal and felt his son had become a political pawn.

President Joe Biden is making a controversial decision with less than two months to go in his presidency ... announcing he's pardoned his son Hunter.

The 46th POTUS announced the news just minutes ago ... releasing a statement saying he's stood by while watching his son being "being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted."

Biden goes on to say other people convicted of the same crimes -- lying on federal forms and paying their taxes late because of addiction -- are typically given non-criminal resolutions ... but, Hunter was treated differently.

Jesse James is being sued over a custom firearm he agreed to make for a customer ... but Jesse says the guy taking him to court is refusing to pay the rest of his bill and is trying to back out.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, a man named David Chace claims he entered into an oral agreement with Jesse and his company Jesse James Firearms Unlimited in 2018 for the construction and purchase of a custom-made pistol set and gave Jesse a $5,000 deposit.

Chace claims he put the project on hold in 2020 and when he resumed it in April 2020, Chace says he tried to change his order from a whole set of pistols to a single custom firearm ... and says Jesse agreed to the change.

Alec Baldwin is ready to leave the "Rust" film in his rearview ... admitting he's yet to see a final cut of the flick in the 3 years since tragedy struck the Western drama.

The actor admitted this to be true while attending the Torino Film Festival, where the actor remerged to receive an honor after his manslaughter case was dismissed this summer.

At the festival, Alec sat down with Variety and shut down notions that he profited from "Rust."

The first crowd to see "Rust" audibly gasped during a scene that eerily paralleled the real-life tragedy that happened during filming ... when Alec Baldwin shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

One of the first reviews from the "Rust" premiere in Poland is out, and the report in Vulture says there was a noticeable shock in the room when a character was accidentally shot to death.

The shooting scene happens early in the film ... and the review says the crowd reaction was definitely related to Hutchins' death.

The man accused of shooting and killing three University of Virginia football players during a horrifying incident on campus in 2022 has pleaded guilty to murder charges.

According to the school, 25-year-old Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. -- a former UVA student -- submitted the plea on Wednesday ... copping to three counts of first-degree murder and several other charges, including aggravated malicious wounding and using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

The university said Darnell Jones Jr. is now facing a maximum sentence of life in prison. He's slated to learn his fate at a sentencing hearing during the first week of February.

Alec Baldwin was absent from today's "Rust" premiere, hanging out instead in NYC this week -- as the film's opening focused on honoring cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who tragically lost her life on set of the movie in 2021.

Just days after Kazimierz Suwała, the director of the EnergaCAMERIMAGE Film Festival, explained they didn’t invite Baldwin in order to avoid distractions ... the premiere in Toruń, Poland, went down without a hitch Wednesday -- Baldwin-free and drama-free.

It’s unclear if Baldwin would’ve attended even if invited, but he certainly looked off the clock, spotted pushing a stroller in NYC Monday. Regardless, Suwała made it crystal clear to The Hollywood Reporter the event wasn’t about Baldwin at all -- it was all about honoring Halyna.

Moviegoers will get a chance to see the world from Halyna Hutchins' point of view when they go see "Rust" ... so says the new cinematographer brought on to finish up the flick.

Bianca Cline -- the new director of photography brought on to finish the film -- spoke alongside director Joel Souza at Camerimage Film Festival in Poland Wednesday before the movie's world premiere ... telling the audience it's amazing so many people came out to support Halyna's vision.

Cline says all filmmaking is about being vulnerable, especially when it comes to cinematography ... explaining that, by watching the movie, viewers will really get a chance to see the world how Halyna saw it.

Alec Baldwin is not off the hook for Halyna Hutchins' death as far as the "Rust" cinematographer's Ukrainian family is concerned -- her mother is ripping into him, and refusing to attend the film's debut screening.

Olga Solovey says Baldwin "continues to increase my pain with his refusal to apologize to me and his refusal to take responsibility for her death. Instead, he seeks to unjustly profit from his killing of my daughter."

She says there's been no justice for her daughter, and as a result, she will not attend the film's premiere Wednesday at Poland’s EnergaCAMERIMAGE Film Festival. Halyna's mother, father and sister all live in Ukraine, which neighbors Poland ... so, it would be the easiest way for them to see Halyna's final film.

Sundance Head -- the country singer who won "The Voice" back in 2016 -- says he didn't think he was going to survive after accidentally shooting himself.

The singer-songwriter is speaking out for the first time since Friday's gun incident in Texas and he says ... "I was sure that I was going to die."

Sundance Head says he was bleeding out on the side of the road after accidentally shooting in the stomach ... and he feared he was not going to make it ... until a stranger stopped and helped.