By ROBERT MACY
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Two members of Tupac Shakur's entourage are
telling conflicting stories of what they saw the night the rap star
was fatally wounded, police contend.
Malcolm Greenridge and Frank Alexander told the Los Angeles
Times they saw Shakur's attackers, but police never showed them
photographs of possible suspects.
"They were certainly in a position to see what happened the
evening of the shooting, although the statements they're making to
the L.A. Times now are completely inconsistent with statements they
made that evening," Las Vegas Metro Police Homicide Lt. Wayne
Petersen said Friday.
"The question is, when was the recollection of the events more
accurate, that night, or now, six months later?" Petersen asked.
Both witnesses were in a car just behind the BMW that Shakur was
riding in when he was ambushed Sept. 7 at a busy intersection near
the Las Vegas Strip.
Shakur was shot four times and died six days later at University
Medical Center. The driver of the BMW, Death Row Records co-founder
Marion "Suge" Knight, suffered graze wounds.
Greenridge, a rap singer and member of Shakur's former back-up
quartet, told the Times he saw four African-American men in a white
Cadillac drive past his car just before Shakur was shot but didn't
see who pulled the trigger.
Alexander, a former Shakur bodyguard and the driver of the car
Greenridge was riding in, said he caught a brief glimpse of the
shooter's face.
Petersen said recorded statements taken by both men the night of
the shooting differ from their account in the Times.
He declined a request by The Associated Press to listen to the
tapes, saying they were part of an ongoing investigation.
Petersen said both men told officers the night of the shooting
they did not see who was in the car. Petersen said Greenridge told
officers the night of the shooting there were two men in the
Cadillac, and now says there were four.
"When witnesses change their stories, we have a real problem
with their credibility when we get to court," Petersen said.
"They were certainly in a position to see what happened. If they
actually did see the suspects, it would have made this case much
more prosecutable if they had been truthful from the beginning."
Both men promised to cooperate with investigators if they're
asked to identify suspects, but both said they're also distrustful
of Las Vegas police.
Petersen said police have tried to contact both witnesses, "but
they have yet to re contact us."
He said a message was left at one number, but the call has not
been returned. The number of the other witness has been
disconnected, Petersen said.
"Could I identify the killer of my friend Tupac Shakur if the
police showed me photos or a lineup of suspects? Possibly so,"
Alexander said. "The thing is that the Las Vegas Metro Police
never even tried to show me a photo of the shooter. Nor did they
call me at any time for a lineup or to ask me anything concerning
the shooting and death of Tupac."
"The night of the shooting, both men said they did not see
anyone," Petersen responded. "Generally, we don't show photos to
someone who says they did not witness anything."
Greenridge and Alexander said they didn't try to contact Las
Vegas detectives in the months after Shakur's death because they
were harassed by police who ignored their initial accounts of the
shooting.
Both men said they decided to make their complaints public
because they were tired of hearing Las Vegas police blame their
failure to solve the Shakur murder on uncooperative members of the
rapper's entourage.
The investigation has narrowed down to a few suspects, but
police said they doubt that anyone will ever be arrested unless a
witness emerges who can identify the shooter.
February 28, 1997
Police question comments from shooting witnesses
Associated Press Writer