Police are searching for a man suspected of stabbing a 24-year-old woman to death in a Los Angeles furniture store on Thursday afternoon.
The Los Angeles Police Department identified the 24-year-old woman as Brianna Kupfer, who died at the scene of the assault, KTLA5 reported. According to the outlet, Kupfer was a design consultant for Croft House, a high end furniture store on La Brea Avenue in Hancock Park.
Kupfer was working alone at the store when she was killed around 1:35 p.m., according to the Santa Monica Observer.
“A customer found the body of Brianna Kupfer on the floor of the Croft House when he walked into the store,” the report continued.
The suspect, “a tall lanky African American male” wearing black pants and a black hoodie, was caught on surveillance video near Hancock Park as well as on the store’s security camera. Both outlets made sure to note that the suspect was wearing “a white N95 mask.”
“They say it is unclear whether the perpetrator and victim knew each other prior to today’s violence,” the Observer report states.
Kupfer’s murder is the latest in a “string of violence and murders in ‘safe’ LA neighborhoods where mayhem has seldom been seen before,” according to the report.
Notably, the L.A. Times reported in December 2021 that homicides were up 46.7 percent compared to 2019, citing police data.
“As of the end of November, there had been 359 homicides in L.A. in 2021, compared with 355 in all of 2020. There have not been more homicides in one year since 2008, which ended with 384,” the Times wrote.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call the LAPD at 877-LAPD 247.