
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, December 1, 1994                   TAG: 9412010122
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A15   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                 LENGTH: Short

RAP STAR SHOT WHILE JURY OUT

Rap star Tupac Shakur, whose ``gangsta rap'' lyrics echo his own violent way of life, was shot five times in a robbery Wednesday, a day after a jury began deliberating sexual assault charges against him.

He was listed in serious but stable condition with gunshot wounds to the hand, head and groin.

The sequestered jurors at his trial were unaware that the 23-year-old musician and actor and his manager had been wounded and robbed of $45,000 in jewelry, including a large diamond ring and an assortment of gold chains, shortly after midnight in the lobby of Quad Recording Studios.

Police found 15 rounds of ammunition and three bags of marijuana in Shakur's jacket at the robbery scene. No charges will be filed because he wasn't wearing the coat, police said.

Shakur and another man, 24-year-old Charles Fuller, are on trial on charges of sodomizing and sexually abusing a woman in their New York City hotel room last year.

Neither was in court Wednesday, and Judge Daniel Fitzgerald told the jury that ``circumstances beyond their control'' were responsible. The jury retired for the night without reaching a verdict.

Shakur, who has the words ``Thug Life'' tattooed on his torso, has faced criminal charges five other times since March 1993. In 1992, then-Vice President Dan Quayle urged record chains to remove his album ``2Pacalypse Now'' because of lyrics condoning violence against police.

by CNB