ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man police consider a suspect in Tupac Shakur’s slaying, and who is named in a wrongful death lawsuit by Shakur’s mother, maintains he was the rapper’s biggest fan.
Orlando Anderson says he followed every twist of Shakur’s career until the man was killed in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996, the Los Angeles Times reported in today’s editions.
„I didn’t have anything to do with Tupac’s murder,“ said Anderson, 23, of Lakewood. „To me, Tupac was like a hero. I admired him. I respected his music. Everybody I know had love for him.“
Shakur’s mother filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Anderson on Friday, alleging he fired the shots that killed her son. Los Angeles police sources told the Times they still consider Anderson a suspect, although Las Vegas police said they have no direct evidence.
Police also claim Anderson is a member of the Southside Crips gang. He told the Times he is an aspiring screenwriter who is being falsely accused.
Four days before the wrongful-death suit was filed against him, Anderson sued Shakur’s estate, seeking nearly $1 million for physical injuries and mental he said he suffered in an assault by Shakur and several Death Row Records employees just hours before Shakur’s killing.
Shakur’s mother, Afeni, based her lawsuit against Anderson on allegations detailed in a Compton police affidavit filed a year ago to obtain search warrants for a gang raid.
The affidavit contended that Shakur’s killing was the result of gang rivalry between the Southside Crips and Death Row employees affiliated with another gang, the Mob Piru Bloods. It alleged that Anderson shot Shakur.
„That entire affidavit is fiction,“ Anderson said.
He said Las Vegas told him last October that he was no longer considered a suspect in Shakur’s killing.
„No one has ever contacted me or asked me a single question about it since. … It’s obvious that I’m innocent,“ he said.
