UCLA grad student stabbed 26 times during broad daylight attack, report says

A UCLA graduate student murdered during a solo shift at a luxury furniture store in Los Angeles was stabbed 26 times during the brazen broad daylight attack earlier this year.

The gruesome revelation was made in the an autopsy report on the slaying of Brianna Kupfer, obtained by ABC 7 some six months after her death.

Flowers and candles are placed outside store in honor of Brianna Kupfer, pictured, on Jan. 18, 2022, in Los Angeles. (Ashley Landis/)

Kupfer was working alone at the Croft House furniture store when she was allegedly attacked by Shawn Laval Smith on Jan. 13. He managed to stab her more than two dozen times, including 11 times in her chest, which punctured both of her lungs. She was also struck in the abdomen, pelvis, arms and legs, according to the report.

A customer discovered Kupfer’s bloody and lifeless body on the floor of the shop around 2 p.m. Just 15 minutes earlier, she texted a friend, saying a man in the store had been making her uncomfortable.

Shawn Laval Smith. Authorities have arrested a Smith in connection with the slaying of 24-year-old Brianna Kupfer while she worked at a Los Angeles furniture store in January.

By then, Smith had already fled out the back door of the business, triggering an intense, days-long manhunt. He was ultimately arrested by authorities on Jan. 19, after a tipster spotted him sitting on a park bench in the area of Fair Oaks and Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

A bloodstained 7-inch knife with a gray or white handle was found at the scene, according to the report.

Kupfer, a graduate of both Brentwood High School in Los Angeles and the University of Miami, had been working toward a degree in architectural design at The University of California, Los Angeles when she was killed.

Police said there is no known motive for the stabbing and they suspect it was a random attack.