LOS ANGELES (KNX) — One week after UCLA grad student Brianna Kupfer was murdered in a Hancock Park furniture store hundreds of people gathered to remember her — with some calling for drastic action by city leaders to make Los Angeles safer to prevent future violence.
La Brea Avenue was shut down for around 90 minutes Thursday as more than 300 people brought flowers to the site where the 24-year-old’s life was taken. Many carried signs or pictures of her as they discussed the feeling that L.A. is not as safe as it should be — and political action is needed.
“I think a lot of people would like to see things changed,” one woman told KNX’s Pete Demetriou. “I think people are afraid and I think people have children of their own and they’re afraid for their children too [following Kupfer’s murder].”
Kupfer, a UCLA grad student, was killed Jan. 13 while working at Croft House, a boutique furniture store. Several news outlets have reported that she had just texted a friend that she was getting “bad vibes” from a man inside the store just moments before she was fatally stabbed.
Wednesday, just 24 hours after the Los Angeles Police Department announced a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of her killer, LAPD said they had made an arrest in Pasadena.
Shawn Laval Smith, 31, was arrested around 11:50 a.m. near Fair Oaks and Colorado Boulevards, police said. He is the man police believe is responsible for Kupfer’s death.
Some at Thursday’s rally felt that the senseless death of Kupfer could be the starting point for political leadership to come into place, with new mandates that could make true changes to crime and homelessness in L.A.
"It's just another situation where someone was on the streets that shouldn't have been on the streets," another vigil attendee told KNX. "And we have another dead body on our hands...completely avoidable."
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