The murder of the successful US rapper Tupac Shakur shocked the public in 1996. Now, 27 years later, there has been a first arrest and indictment. But the musician’s relatives don’t want to breathe a sigh of relief yet.
Around 27 years after the murder of famous US rapper Tupac Shakur, a 60-year-old man was arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada. The former gang leader had previously been charged by a jury with, among other things, murder with the use of a deadly weapon, police and prosecutors said on Friday in Las Vegas. He is in custody and a judge has rejected his temporary release on bail.
Tupac Shakur murder: Defendant blamed his nephew
The 60-year-old had been suspected for years of being connected to the murder of the then 25-year-old award-winning Tupac Shakur or of being the mastermind of the crime. The now defendant himself had spoken publicly several times in recent years about the fact that he was sitting in the white Cadillac from which the shots were fired at Shakur in 1996. He said in interviews and also wrote in an autobiography that he was the only occupant of the car who was still alive. The 60-year-old emphasized that his nephew fired the fatal shots himself. He himself died in a shooting in 1998.
In 2018 there was a new attempt to investigate, but according to US media there was not enough evidence against the 60-year-old. A search of a house in the city of Henderson in the US state of Nevada, which is attributed to the defendant’s wife, brought the turning point in the investigation this July, writes the Washington Post. Among other things, incriminating documents were discovered. Items seized included bullet casings and a copy of his memoirs.
Police assume an act of revenge between rival groups
All of this confirmed the information that the police obtained during the investigation, it was said at the press conference on Friday. The defendant got a gun on the evening of the crime and then gave it to the men sitting in the back of the white Cadillac, CNN quoted murder officer Jason Johansson as saying. According to him, it was an act of revenge after a conflict between two groups, with the 60-year-old belonging to one and Tupac Shakur to the other. CNN did not write anything about the exact background of these rivalries.
Shakur was one of the most successful rap artists of the 1990s. In September 1996, when he was shot while sitting in a car in Las Vegas and died a few days later, there was conflict between rival rappers on the East and West Coasts. Just a few months after Shakur, the musician The Notorious BIG was also shot and, according to the media, his death has not been solved to this day.
Family says arrest was “bittersweet”
Family members of the rapper were cautious about whether the musician’s murder would be solved after the arrest and whether they could find peace after 27 long years. The news of the man’s arrest was “bittersweet,” said Tupac’s stepbrother Mopreme Shakur, US broadcaster CNN reported. “Why now?” CNN quoted him as saying. “It’s not over for us yet. We want to know why and whether there were accomplices.”
Tupac’s sister Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur called the indictment a “pivotal moment,” US media quoted her as saying. “His life and death are important and should not remain unresolved (…). So yes, today is a victory, but I will reserve judgment until all the facts and legal proceedings are complete.”
Millions of fans worldwide still adore the rapper and his music. Just in July, a ring that Shakur designed himself and wore at his last public appearance was auctioned in New York for around one million dollars (around 950,000 euros). According to auction house Sotheby’s, this was the highest sum ever paid for a piece of hip-hop memorabilia at auction.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
