Seven years later, no major break in rapper’s death

Jen Lawson

Monday, Nov. 17, 2003 | 11:01 a.m.

In the seven years since the murder of rap and film star Tupac Shakur, Metro Police have gotten calls from people who say the crime is linked to the Kennedy assassination and that reputed mobster Tony Spilotro's ghost is responsible.

A woman even came to Metro's homicide office and said she is Shakur's psychic twin and he regularly conveys messages about his murder through her.

Others say if police listen to his music backward, they'll find out what happened.

But police have never developed any credible leads.

"We've gotten thousands of 'tips,' but the vast majority are people saying that (Shakur) is still alive," Sgt. Kevin Manning, lead investigator, said. "It's been seven years now and we've never received a substantial tip."

"Tupac: Resurrection," a documentary that tells Shakur's life story through his music, was released Friday, but Manning said he doesn't have much hope that it will shake loose any fresh information about the killing.

Police do get calls whenever a posthumous Shakur album is released, but the calls are from reporters asking about the status of the investigation.

Within the past two months detectives received information that could be credible, and they're working on trying to establish its reliability, Manning said, but would not say what the information was.

Shakur's slaying hasn't been solved because there were few people who actually saw what happened, even though it happened on a busy street. The ones who did witness the shooting aren't cooperating, Manning said.

"Nobody has given us any direction," Manning said. "We've talked to people over and over, and to this day we still don't have an accurate description of the suspect's vehicle."

"Unless it's the rare instance where a police officer is there when the crime occurred, we have to rely on witnesses and evidence to make a case. Without those we haven't got a case."

Shakur was shot Sept. 7, 1996, on East Flamingo Road as he rode in a car with Death Row Records owner Marion "Suge" Knight. They were on their way to Club 662, where Shakur and other rap artists were scheduled to perform.

Earlier in the night they had attended a Mike Tyson boxing match at the MGM Grand, where the two men and members of their entourage got into a fistfight with Orlando Anderson, a reputed gang member.

There was some speculation that Anderson followed Shakur and shot him in retaliation, but Manning doesn't buy it.

"A lot of people don't realize that Tupac and Suge didn't just leave the MGM and go to the 662 Club," Manning said. They walked to the Luxor, where they were staying, then they went to Knight's house, where a party was scheduled but then canceled. "Quite a bit of time transpired, at least a couple of hours."

Anderson was arrested in 1997 during a Los Angeles gang sweep and was questioned by Metro detectives about Shakur's murder, but they couldn't find any proof that he was involved. Anderson was killed in a Los Angeles gang shooting in May 1998.

"If someone will produce evidence that he was responsible, we'd look at it," Manning said. "Somebody knows what happened. ... We haven't even had any solid rumors other than Orlando Anderson."

Five months after Shakur's murder, Christopher Wallace, a rapper who went by the name Biggie Smalls, was killed in a shooting in Los Angeles that was similar to Shakur's.

Shakur and Wallace were rivals, and some fans think the murders are linked, but police say they haven't been able to establish a solid connection. Wallace's murder is also unsolved.

During a routine homicide investigation, police store their paperwork in a 4-inch binder. The Shakur case takes up four 4-inch binders, "and they're stuffed," Manning said.

Many of the tips don't pan out, such as one that came through the syndicated television show "America's Most Wanted" recently. A person told Metro that the man who shot and killed the sister of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams also killed Shakur.

"We get a lot of that stuff. That's the problem with high-profile cases," Manning said.

Shakur's mother, Afeni, has said publicly criticized Metro, saying she thinks an arrest should have been made long ago. Manning said he doesn't blame her for feeling that way.

"Every time we have an unsolved case, people blame the police," he said.

But Manning pointed out that neither Shakur's family nor Death Row Records ever offered a reward. The only reward available is through Crime Stoppers, and it's $1,000.

Some family members of unsolved murder victims call Metro regularly to get updates on the investigations. Manning said Afeni Shakur has never called. Early on in the investigation, Metro did get calls from her attorney, however.

A hip hop website posted a message urging fans to contact Manning and urge him to solve the murder, and Manning said he received one e-mail and two phone calls. They were hateful and racist, he said.

"We don't care about the race or the gender of the victim," Manning said. "It makes no difference to us who the victim was."

The case has frustrated investigators, Manning said, and solving it has become "a matter of pride."

"The more time that goes by, it probably reduces the solvability," Manning said.

"I'd like nothing more than to get a resolution on this," he said. "All it takes is being pointed in the right direction."