His Death
After surviving five shots two years earlier, Tupac died on 13 September 1996 as the result of another gunfire attack one week before. He was only 25.
Saturday 7 September 1996: Las Vegas, Nevada, was getting ready for the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon heavyweight fight at the MGM Grand Hotel. Tupac, being a good friend of Tyson’s, was one of the many celebrities and V.I.P.’s. He was accompanied by his boss, Death Row Records C.E.O. Marion ‘Suge’ Knight, Travon ‘Tray’ Lane and some others.
After the fight, in the lobby of the hotel, Tray noticed a guy: it was the same man that had robbed him of his Death Row Records chain some weeks earlier. That guy was Orlando ‘Baby Lane’ Anderson, nephew of ‘Keefe D.’, both reputed to be Southside Crip gang members. Tupac went over to Anderson and both men got into a fight – Tupac immediately back-up by his Death Row crew. The fight was captured on the hotel’s security cameras. Hotel security personnel broke up the rumble and Tupac and his men left for their own hotel. They were planning to go to a party at Suge’s night club “Club 662”. When back at the hotel, Tupac told his fiancé, Kidada Jones, about the clash with Anderson and that he felt something was going on. He preferred her to stay at the hotel, not joining him to the party. Tupac took the car with Suge. Listening to the then not yet released “The Don Kiluminati: the 7-Day Theory”, the black BMW750 cruised through the streets of Las Vegas. Tupac rolled down his window, so a photographer could take his picture, a picture that is now known as the last picture ever taken of him alive…
While waiting at a red light on Flamingo Road, near the intersection with Koval Lane, a white Cadillac with California licence plate, pulled up on the passenger side. All of a sudden, one (some sources say two) man got out of the car and opened fire. Tupac, not wearing his bullet proof vest, was hit four times – Suge was grazed (by a bullet or by some glass?) in the head. While the Cadillac fled, Suge took off on two flat tires – strangely enough away from the nearest hospital. Two patrol officers nearby on an unrelated call heard the gunshots and called for back-up. Two other policemen gave pursuit to the BMW, which got stuck in traffic rather quickly. An ambulance was called and both injured men were brought to the University of Nevada Medical Hospital. Tupac kept saying he couldn’t breathe. With gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen, Tupac was taken into surgery. He was loosing lots of blood rapidly – to stop internal bleeding, doctors removed his punctured, right lung. In the meantime, fans trooped together outside of the hospital to support and pray for their idol. After almost a week of fighting for his life and with his mother by his side, Tupac passed away on Friday 13 September 1996. He was officially pronounced dead at 4:03 p.m.
Today, more than 10 years after his demise, the murder still hasn’t been solved. Numerous rumours as to who did it and why, spread very quickly. What was the role ‘Baby Lane’ Anderson in it all? Was Suge in any way involved? Did somebody take the so-called “East Coast-West Coast war” too far? Or could it have had something to do with the Crips and Bloods gang war? Many possibilities and lots of unanswered questions. Facts are that in the days following 7 September, there was an increase in gang-related killings; Biggie Smalls was gunned down in a similar way to Tupac only 6 months after (9 March 1997) and prime suspect Orlando Anderson was killed in May 1998…
