|
Police question comments from shooting witnesses
By ROBERT MACY
Associated Press Writer
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Two members of Tupac Shakur's entourage are telling conflicting stories of what they saw the night the rap star was fatally wounded, police contend.
Malcolm Greenridge and Frank Alexander told the Los Angeles Times they saw Shakur's attackers, but police never showed them photographs of possible suspects.
"They were certainly in a position to see what happened the evening of the shooting, although the statements they're making to the L.A. Times now are completely inconsistent with statements they made that evening," Las Vegas Metro Police Homicide Lt. Wayne Petersen said Friday.
"The question is, when was the recollection of the events more accurate, that night, or now, six months later?" Petersen asked.
Both witnesses were in a car just behind the BMW that Shakur was riding in when he was ambushed Sept. 7 at a busy intersection near the Las Vegas Strip.
Shakur was shot four times and died six days later at University Medical Center. The driver of the BMW, Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight, suffered graze wounds.
Greenridge, a rap singer and member of Shakur's former back-up quartet, told the Times he saw four African-American men in a white Cadillac drive past his car just before Shakur was shot but didn't see who pulled the trigger.
Alexander, a former Shakur bodyguard and the driver of the car Greenridge was riding in, said he caught a brief glimpse of the shooter's face.
Petersen said recorded statements taken by both men the night of the shooting differ from their account in the Times.
He declined a request by The Associated Press to listen to the tapes, saying they were part of an ongoing investigation.
Petersen said both men told officers the night of the shooting they did not see who was in the car. Petersen said Greenridge told officers the night of the shooting there were two men in the Cadillac, and now says there were four.
"When witnesses change their stories, we have a real problem with their credibility when we get to court," Petersen said. "They were certainly in a position to see what happened. If they actually did see the suspects, it would have made this case much more prosecutable if they had been truthful from the beginning."
Both men promised to cooperate with investigators if they're asked to identify suspects, but both said they're also distrustful of Las Vegas police.
Petersen said police have tried to contact both witnesses, "but they have yet to re contact us."
He said a message was left at one number, but the call has not been returned. The number of the other witness has been disconnected, Petersen said.
"Could I identify the killer of my friend Tupac Shakur if the police showed me photos or a lineup of suspects? Possibly so," Alexander said. "The thing is that the Las Vegas Metro Police never even tried to show me a photo of the shooter. Nor did they call me at any time for a lineup or to ask me anything concerning the shooting and death of Tupac."
"The night of the shooting, both men said they did not see anyone," Petersen responded. "Generally, we don't show photos to someone who says they did not witness anything."
Greenridge and Alexander said they didn't try to contact Las Vegas detectives in the months after Shakur's death because they were harassed by police who ignored their initial accounts of the shooting.
Both men said they decided to make their complaints public because they were tired of hearing Las Vegas police blame their failure to solve the Shakur murder on uncooperative members of the rapper's entourage.
The investigation has narrowed down to a few suspects, but police said they doubt that anyone will ever be arrested unless a witness emerges who can identify the shooter.
Back to the articles archive
|
Article Archive
