‘Ghetto Gospel’ artist Tupac Shakur was one of the impactful rappers of the 1990s and was more than just a rapper. First based in Oakland and then Los Angeles, the emcee was an activist and anti-establishment rhymer. However, in 2014, a former police officer who was at the scene of the rapper’s murder in Las Vegas revealed Tupac’s final words.
Speaking with Rolling Stone, former Las Vegas Metropolitan Police sergeant Chris Carroll recalled the night he was called to the scene of the now-infamous drive-by shooting. The homicide, which many believe was directed at Suge Knight, saw Shakur shot multiple times in the arm, neck and chest.
The event occurred after a Las Vegas boxing match where the former Death Row Records CEO, Suge Knight, had fought with a 21-year-old LA gang leader Orlando Anderson. The Mike Tyson fight was the most significant event in the city that night on September 7th, and Carroll was on patrol near the MGM Grand casino where the two Death Row members were gambling.
Following a brief stint in the casino, Knight and Shakur entered a supercar and attempted to exit the city. However, Shakur would shortly be killed. But it wasn’t an instant death.
Carroll recalled his arrival at the scene, detailing, “I grab the car door, and I’m trying to open it, but I can’t get it open! [Knight] keeps coming up on my back, so I’m pointing my gun at him. I’m pointing it at the car. I’m yelling, ‘You guys lay down! And you, get the f**k away from me!'”
Carroll proceeded to detail how Knight had blood gushing from his face but had only fallen victim to fragments of shrapnel. Recounting his confusion as to who the barely responsive victim was, Carroll remembered, “He’s sitting up, and he’s struggling to get the words out, but he can’t really do it. And as Suge is yelling ‘Pac!,’ I look down, and I realize that this is Tupac Shakur.”
However, Carroll revealed that before 2Pac was rushed to the hospital, he became partially responsive and slightly confrontational, stating, “He went from struggling to speak, being noncooperative, to an ‘I’m at peace’ type of thing, just like that. He looked at me, and he took a breath to get the words out, and he opened his mouth, and I thought I was actually going to get some cooperation. And then the words came out: ‘F**k you.’ After that, he started gurgling and slipping out of consciousness.”
Shakur entered a coma but, after six days, eventually died and was pronounced dead on September 13th. However, before he entered a coma, Tupac told Chris Caroll “F*ck You.”
