UCLA student working at furniture store killed by homeless man, who is now convicted of murder.

A UCLA student was brutally stabbed to death by a homeless man while working in a boutique furniture shop, and the man was found guilty on Tuesday.

A Los Angeles County jury found Shawn Laval Smith, 34, guilty of brutally murdering Brianna Kupfer on January 13, 2022. The jury also convicted Smith of the special circumstance allegation of murder while lying in wait and of using a knife during the commission of the crime, according to Fox Los Angeles.

In Los Angeles' Hancock Park neighborhood, a 24-year-old architectural graduate student named Kupfer was attacked by Smith, a homeless man with a criminal history, while working alone at Croft House. Smith stabbed Kupfer dozens of times during an unprovoked attack.

In his final statement, Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian informed the jury that Smith had a hatred towards women and was solely seeking a female companion through his business-to-business interactions.

Balian stated that he pretended to be a customer when he observed Kupfer alone in the store.

Smith was found guilty of stabbing Kupfer 11 times, causing injuries to her chest, abdomen, pelvis, arms, and legs. Security cameras captured Smith at the store and his DNA was found on the knife used in the attack.

He was arrested days later.

Smith was heard ranting about his hatred of women and recorded the killing on a digital audio recorder, authorities said.

The lawyer for Smith described the recording as a "mildly incoherent rant with profanities" and not a "manifesto" or "smoking gun" for the "ghastly murder" that occurred 2 1/2 weeks later, according to the news station.

The lawyer stated that the decision to attack Brianna Kupfer was sudden and not premeditated.

Smith faces life without parole if a judge determines he was sane.

Kupfer was remembered by mourners at the furniture shop several days after his death.

"Alex Segal, co-founder of the shop where Kupfer had worked for about a year, stated at the time that Brie was the brightest part of anyone's day who got to interact with her. The question that arises is why and how are we here and how is this happening."