March 09, 1997
Suge: I Didn't Kill Tupac
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Calling the late rapper Tupac Shakur his
best friend, Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge"
Knight said it was "crazy" to speculate that he had
anything to do with Shakur's death in Las Vegas.
"I loved 'Pac then. I love 'Pac now. He loved me. That's
my little homey and it's always going to be that way, you know,
and nothing's going to change that," Knight said in his
first jailhouse interview with Fox's TV show "America's Most
Wanted."
Last month, Knight was was sentenced to nine years in prison
for violating his 1995 probation.
The judge said Knight violated his probation by taking part in
a fight at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas hotel on Sept. 7.
Hours later, Shakur was shot in a drive-by attack as he rode in
Knight's car. Shakur died six days later. Knight was struck in
the head.
The case remains unsolved.
"September 7th is a part of history. It's a sad day. It's
an educational day," Knight told the TV show in an episode
broadcast Saturday night.
Asked about rumors that Shakur was going to leave the rap
label, Knight said there was no friction between he and Shakur.
"If you look at any interview that Tupac did, if you look
at any video, any TV show he did, one thing he always did was
praise Death Row and me and him praised each other," Knight
said.
Common sense should tell homicide investigators that he didn't
shoot Shakur, Knight said.
"Just shoot me in my head, make sure you hit me in my
head for it can look good. That's crazy," he said.
Knight said police have already questioned the man he believes
is responsible for the shooting.
Knight also defended his actions just after the shooting. He
immediately made a u-turn, away from any hospital.
"How many people you know, would get shot in the head,
where it fractures their skull, and instead of just taking off
driving and thinking about their buddy to make sure they're
alright, do you think any person who got shot in the head is
going to say, 'Well, lemme see the quickest way to get to the
hospital'? The average person I think would be dead."
Shakur's mother, Afeni Shakur, has suggested Knight and Death
Row cheated her son out of earnings from his records.
"When I was in jail I gave her a check for $3 million.
Plus also you've got the paperwork right there ... I think in
four or five months Tupac spent $2.4 million, $2.5 million,"
he said.
Knight has said he would continue to oversee the record
company, one of rap music's hottest labels, while in jail.
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