SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Compton, Calif., Police arrested 21 gang members early today, including at
least one person who will be questioned in connection with the Sept. 7 murder
of rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas.
The sweep targeted individuals believed to have been involved in
as many as a dozen shootings that occurred in the Compton area in
possible retaliation for the Shakur shooting, police Capt. Steven
Roller said.
"None of the suspects that we arrested will at the present time
be charged with the events that happened in the city of Las
Vegas," Roller emphasized.
Three people were killed in the 12 shootings that have occurred
in the Compton area since the Shakur shooting, Roller said. Some
may have been in retaliation for the Shakur attack, he said.
A New York radio station reported this morning that one of those
arrested, 22-year-old Orlando Anderson of Compton, told police that Marion
"Suge" Knight, Death Row Records owner and driver of the BMW in which Shakur
was a passenger, was the target of the Sept. 7 drive-by shooting near the Las
Vegas Strip.
Compton Police said Anderson has ties to the Los Angeles Crips gang. Knight
reportedly has ties to the Los Angeles Bloods and sports an "M.O.B." tattoo
on his arm that police have said stands for "Member of Bloods."
Knight, who owns a home in the southeast Las Vegas Valley and has interest in
a nightclub here, gave police very little information after the shooting. It
took four days for him to meet with homicide detectives to give a statement.
Shakur, 25, died Sept. 13 from chest and abdominal wounds. Although he was
conscious at the time he was admitted into University Medical Center, he was
in a coma and on a respirator at the time of his death. A day after the
shooting, doctors surgically removed a lung to try to stop internal
bleeding.
Knight, 31, was driving with Shakur on East Flamingo Road a few blocks off the
Strip after the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon heavyweight fight when a
gunman in a white late-model Cadillac pulled up next to them and emptied a
semiautomatic pistol into the passenger side. Knight suffered a minor head
injury during the shooting.
Knight, driving with two flat tires, made a U-turn on East Flamingo after the
shooting even though bicycle patrol officers were in pursuit. He told
investigators he was trying to find a hospital, police said. Knight was finally
stopped by officers about a mile away.
Shakur, whose family and relatives told homicide detectives that his real name
is Lesane Crooks, was struck four times, in the chest and abdomen.
Days after the shooting, three attorneys accompanied Knight to the offices of
Metro's homicide division where detectives questioned him for about an hour.
"We were hoping he would tell us who shot him," homicide Sgt. Kevin Manning
said. "He didn't give us anything beneficial."
Knight also did not shed light on a possible motive for the shooting.
October 02, 1996
Arrest made in connection to Shakur killing