The devastated father of a UCLA grad student who was stabbed to death in broad daylight last week while working in a luxury LA furniture store is slamming politicians for ignoring the recent spike in violent crime.
'We have a lot of politicians that somehow forgot about people and think the key to getting elected is to support the lowest rung of our society and to give them rights and somehow that's the answer to getting votes,' Todd Kupfer told Fox News.
Kupfer's 24-year-old daughter, Brianna Kupfer, was murdered last Thursday when a male suspect, who is believed to be homeless, walked into Croft House around 1:50 p.m. and stabbed her to death. He then fled through the back door before calmly walking down an alley.
The architectural design student from Pacific Palisades was discovered 20 minutes later by a customer. She died at the scene before help could arrive.
The LAPD determined that it was a random attack and the suspect did not know the victim. Police say he was wearing a dark hoodie, sunglasses, a white N-95 mask, and carrying a dark back pack.
'Crime is truly spiking, and we have a lot of criminals on the streets that shouldn't be out,' Kupfer's father told Fox News.
His daughter had been working as a design consultant at the high-end furniture store popular with celebrities like Mandy Moore, whose Pasadena home features a Croft House sofa, according to Architectural Digest.
'She was a kind soul and always was trying to make herself better and everything around her better,' Kupfer, said as he fought back tears. 'She cared about people.'
The murder comes amid a huge crime surge in Los Angeles, with homicides in Los Angeles rising 52 per cent last year from 2019, and shooting incidents were up 59 per cent, according to LAPD data.
Kupfer says he believes politicians are ignoring this spike in violent crime.
'We need to champion [my daughter] as a beacon of what's wrong and make sure that people recognize that – because it could be their children next, and it's just an impossible price to pay,' he said.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón is under fire for failing to crack down on the recent spike in violence.
He won over voters last year with promises of sweeping criminal justice reforms that critics say put the interests of criminals before the safety of the community, Fox News reported.
Brianna Kupfer, 24, was stabbed to death in a random attack last Thursday while she was working in a luxury furniture store in Los Angeles
LA crime is on the upswing, according to police statistics. Shooting victims have increased 10.6 percent year-to-year and 53 percent from the same point in 2019
The killing comes amid a huge crime surge in Los Angeles, with its woke District Attorney George Gascon under fire for failing to crack down on the violence
The city has also suffered a shocking wave of follow-home robberies and organized smash-and-grab attacks on retailers.
Jacqueline Avant, the 81 year-old wife of music producer Clarence Avant, became the most high-profile robbery victim when she was shot and killed at her $2.7 million Beverly Hills mansion in December.
On January 3 in nearby San Jose, nine hammer-wielding thugs stormed a San Jose shopping center and smashed glass display cases at three stores before fleeing with $110,000 in jewelry.
Los Angeles police arrested 14 people last November in connection with 11 recent smash-and-grab robberies at stores, where nearly $340,000 worth of merchandise was stolen.
A Los Angeles Nordstrom, a Lululemon in Studio City, a Fairfax district store, and a CVS pharmacy in South Los Angeles were among the stores hit.
However, due to county's zero-bail policies, the suspects were all released within hours of being handcuffed.
Gascon said of rising crime rates: 'The reality is that we go through these cycles, and we go through the cycles for a variety of reasons … In many ways we cannot prosecute our way out of social inequalities, income
