ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 9, 1996 TAG: 9609090147
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LAS VEGAS
SOURCE: Associated Press
Tupac Shakur and a record company executive were shot in a car as they rode down the city's busy casino Strip, and Shakur was in critical condition Sunday.
It was the second shooting in two years for rapper Shakur, who has a history of violence and trouble with the law.
Police didn't know yet if Shakur and Death Row Records Chairman Marion ``Suge'' Knight were deliberately targeted or if the shooting was random, said Metro Police spokesman Greg McCurdy.
``It's very unclear because of some of his past problems, some may think someone may have singled him out,'' McCurdy said.
Police had made no arrests Sunday.
Shakur, who starred opposite Janet Jackson in the movie ``Poetic Justice,'' has been working on another film, ``Gridlock.'' His latest album, ``All Eyez On Me,'' has sold at least 5 million copies.
Shakur and Knight were traveling in a convoy of about 10 cars late Saturday, apparently headed to a nightclub, after watching the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon heavyweight title fight, police said.
Police said Knight was driving and no one else was in the car with them.
A car with four people inside pulled alongside at an intersection and one person opened fire, riddling the passenger side of Knight's car with bullets, police said.
The 25-year-old Shakur, in the passenger seat, was shot several times in the chest and was in critical condition following surgery Sunday, said Pat Morris, a nursing administrator at University Medical Center.
A police communications supervisor who would only identify herself as Mrs. Coleman said Shakur ``will survive.''
Knight, 31, who was driving, suffered a minor head wound, police said. His Death Row Records produces the work of Shakur and other rappers including Snoop Doggy Dogg and Hammer.
In November 1994, Shakur was shot five times by robbers in the lobby of a New York City recording studio. He lost $40,000 worth of jewelry.
On Wednesday night at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York, he and about a half-dozen of his friends got into a menacing confrontation with about six men at Radio City Music Hall.
In June, Shakur faced a 120-day sentence for probation violations in New York and Los Angeles, but he was allowed to remain free on bail until his appeal is settled.
Shakur was on probation for various offenses including assault and battery, carrying a loaded gun, and a 1994 sex abuse conviction in New York. He spent eight months in prison for the sex abuse conviction until winning his release pending appeal.
Shakur was convicted in Los Angeles of assault and battery on a music video producer and for carrying a loaded, concealed gun and was scheduled for sentencing this week on the weapon charge.
He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge for trying to hit a fellow rapper with a baseball bat at a concert at Michigan State University in 1993. The same year he was charged with shooting two off-duty Atlanta police officers in 1993, but charges were dropped.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Shakur.by CNB