The untimely and unfortunate passing of Hip-Hop icon Tupac Shakur continues to baffle many after his life was over two decades ago. Many theories have come to the forefront, sometimes facts or previous narratives associated with the case according to authorities. A new discovery was found involving the case, however the details surrounding it are both disappointing and sketchy.
The Hip-Hop community would be shaken to its core on September 7, 1996, when news broke of the “All Eyez on Me” rapper’s passing in Las Vegas. Shakur was in Vegas attending a Mike Tyson fight with Suge Knight. Upon leaving, they would have an unfortunate run-in with Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson in the lobby of the MGM Grand. The altercation would up being caught on the hotel’s security cameras.
According to reports, the rapper and Knight were at a stoplight at around 11:15pm when another vehicle pulls up to the side of the car and proceeds to release fire. Shakur was hit four times and ultimately would succumb to the injuries he suffered on September 13, 1996.
To date, Tupac’s case remains unsolved. There have been many speculations surrounding his passing, with some of the theories centered around his feud with another Hip-Hop icon, The Notorious B.I.G. Years later, it’s being revealed that the weapon used in the incident was discovered.
According to a report from TMZ, the firearm was found by a citizen in a Compton, California backyard on May 30, 1998, Compton PD records show. A producer for the A&E docuseries, Who killed Tupac?, was able to discover the documents that detailed the finding and its mysterious disappearance.
The L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept. took over law enforcement in the city of Compton in 2000, two years after it was found. With that, 3,800 weapons that had been seized by Compton PD were transferred to the LA Sherriff’s Department. The gun was reportedly included in that bunch.
But in 2006 a Deputy T. Brennan, who had been working on the case involving The Notorious B.I.G., happened to be going through records when he discovered the address to where the firearm was found. It was then that he recognized the location was the home of a prominent crips member’s girlfriend that was known to have beef with Pac.
Brennan wasted no time in getting a ballistics test done on the weapon, and the results were a positive match. Upon that discovery, Brennan had it set up for the gun to be transferred to investigators in the Las Vegas Police Department, but federal prosecutors intervened and stopped the transfer fearing “that it’s discovery might tip off any conspirators involved in his [passing].”
What’s worse is the family of Shakur, including his older brother Mopreme Shakur, had no idea that the weapon had been found or any of the details from investigators. A&E was able to capture his initial reaction to the discovery.