On this day, Sept. 7, in 1996, rap star and actor Tupac Shakur was shot several times in Las Vegas after attending a Mike Tyson boxing match.
Shakur died in the hospital six days later while being treated for his injuries. He was 25.
The rapper was riding with Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight, who was grazed by bullets but was otherwise unharmed.
Shakur’s killer was never identified, although some believe Orlando Anderson, a member of the Los Angeles-based Crips street gang, was to blame.
Knight had attacked Anderson in the lobby of the MGM Grand hotel with a group from Death Row Records. Shakur’s mother suspected a revenge attack and filed a suit against Anderson, but the case was closed after Anderson was killed in a shootout in May 1998.
– Scott McCabe
