By Cathy Scott
A teenager suspected of killing a key witness in the Tupac Shakur murder has
been arrested by police in Orange, N.J.
The 16-year-old boy, whose name was not released because he is a minor, was
arrested at 10 p.m. Wednesday in Irvington, N.J., Orange Police Capt. Richard
Conte said. A second suspect, a 17-year-old, "will be turning himself in today
with his attorney," Conte said.
Yafeu Fula, 19, was shot once in the head and found slumped in a third-floor
hallway of a housing project about 3:48 a.m. Sunday in Orange, Conte
said.
Metro Police Lt. Larry Spinosa said today that Fula "was the only person in
the (Shakur) entourage who made a statement to us that he could possibly
identify the shooter. Now he's gone."
But he said Fula "wasn't coming forward anyway. We didn't know where he was
until he turned up in New Jersey dead on Sunday."
Spinosa said that after talking with Metro Police, Fula went to the attorney
for Death Row Records, David Kenner. "All our contacts after that were from
Kenner in California," Spinosa said.
Fula was a member of Shakur's backup group, the Outlaws Immortalz, who toured
with Shakur. Fula was sitting with bodyguards in the car behind Shakur's when
the gangsta rapper was shot Sept. 7.
Shakur, one of rap's most successful and notorious singers, was shot four
times near the Strip following the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon boxing
match. He died six days later.
Police say they have received little cooperation from Shakur's entourage, which
included Fula.
Fula was taken to University Hospital in Newark, N.J., where he died Sunday
afternoon, Conte said.
Conte said police do not believe the killing was connected to Shakur's
homicide.
"It has nothing to do with Las Vegas as far as we can determine," he said.
Kenner also represents Marion "Suge" Knight, the head of Death Row Records,
which was Shakur's label. Knight was driving with Shakur in a rented BMW on
East Flamingo Road when Shakur was gunned down by a shooter in a white
late-model Cadillac. No suspects have been arrested.
"We wanted Fula to look at a photo lineup, and the attorney would say
he would get back to us, and he never did," Spinosa said. "As far as the
investigation is concerned, it really does not change the status in the case at
all. It's an open investigation, however, at this point we've reached an end to
fresh leads."
Police said Shakur and Fula were close friends, not relatives. But in Shakur's
obituary in "Billboard" magazine, Fula's mother, Yaasmyn Fula, was listed as
Shakur's aunt.
November 14, 1996
Teen nabbed in death of
Shakur witness
LAS VEGAS SUN