Alleged Tupac Shakur shooter at Quad Studios freed from prison after 27 years
Various theories about who shot Tupac Shakur in the lobby of Quad Studios in 1994 have been espoused over the past 27 years. The shooting marked a turning point in hip-hop culture and proved to be the starting gun on the East Coast and West Coast war that plagued the 1990s.
That said, on the inside sleeve of the original release of the emcee’s last album, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, Shakur named the individual who he believed shot him in 1994 as Walter ‘King Tut’ Johnson as the perpetrator.
Although Shakur was adamant it was Johnson, he only ever became a person of interest in the investigation and was never prosecuted for the shooting. However, he was incarcerated three years after the event in 1997 for an unrelated crime.
In 1997, a federal court judge, Frederic Block, gave Johnson five life sentences. Still, 27 years after the judgement was made, that very same judge returned to reconsider the verdict and decided that he was wrong.
On October 16th, Block explained why he reversed his initial decision, writing, “Judges gain insights that with the passage of time only can come with experience on the bench and their judicial maturation. I now believe that my sentences, though lawfully rendered, were excessively harsh.”
Within days of his release, Johnson, a native of Brooklyn, was pictured with his longtime friend and associate, Uncle Murda and underneath an Instagram post, Murda wrote, “Welcome Home [King] TUT. Brooklyn East New York Legend.”
Concerning Tupac, his brother Mopreme Shakur recently challenged Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ insistence that he had no involvement in the 1996 murder of the late hip-hop icon. During an appearance on the TalkTV programme Piers Morgan Uncensored, Mopreme was asked about Combs and the rumours surrounding his involvement in the murder of Tupac.
In a Los Angeles Times article from 2008 that was later retracted, alleged evidence was produced. However, Combs responded with a letter, writing, “The story is a lie. Neither I nor [The Notorious B.I.G.] had any knowledge of any attack on 2Pac before, during or after it happened.”
Morgan read the letter and then asked Mopreme, “Do you think that was an honest statement?” To which he swiftly responded, “My opinion is that I don’t believe it was an a hundred percent honest statement,” Shakur replied. When asked more directly if he thinks Diddy was lying when he made that statement, Tupac’s sibling said: “Quite possibly. It’s kinda looking that way, in my opinion.”