Murder of Tupac Shakur: an interview with former Las Vegas Police sergeant Chris Carroll

An Italian translation is available here.

Tupac Shakur's murder is one of the most enduring mysteries in music history. To help us understand what happened on that night and to dispel some of the myths surrounding Tupac's death, former Las Vegas police officer Chris Carroll accepted our proposal for an interview which we are offering today our readers.

We would like to thank Chris Carroll for his kindness and willingness to help.

125esima Strada: After arriving on the scene when did you realize the victim was a celebrity and therefore that would have become a big case?

Chris Carroll: As far as “arriving on the scene”, that phrase doesn’t really apply. Tupac’s entourage and I crossed into each other going opposite directions. Their cars sort of spun out trying to make the corner turn too fast as I slid up to them on my bike. After I opened Tupac’s door and he fell out into my arms, Suge immediately was in back of me yelling at him. He was yelling,”Pac, Pac” as he tried to get a response from him. I could see that his car was a high end BMW, he was wearing a ton of jewelry, and Suge was yelling “Pac”. Putting this together I could see that it was Tupac. I didn’t know anything about him at the time other than there was a rapper named Tupac. It’s important to remember that he is far more famous now than he was then. As cops in Las Vegas, the other officers at the scene and I have worked with and around celebrities all the time, so it didn’t have that big of an impact on us when it happened. We handled it like any other homicide, and we handled a lot of those as well, so it didn’t seem much different than other homicides at the time. When we talk to each other now we are kind of surprised at what it has become.

125esima Strada: What did you think of Suge at first? Did you get right away he was an ally, not an enemy?

Chris Carroll: I didn’t know who Suge was at the time. It was very obvious he was Tupac’s friend but that’s all I knew. To me he posed a threat. He was a giant guy who kept running up on my back, putting me in a very dangerous situation. I would point my gun at him and he would back off for a few seconds but as soon as I turned around he was back. He was loud, uncooperative, emotional, and had blood spurting out of the side of his head. Finally, I saw another officer push him away from me. That was the first time I saw the other officer at the scene. He never cooperated then, or during the follow up investigation.


125esima Strada: How would you describe the people that gathered around the car while you were trying to assess the situation? Where they gangsters or just passers-by?

Chris Carroll: There weren’t people gathered around the car. There was me, Tupac, Suge, and another cop keeping Suge back from me. There were originally a couple other cops trying to bring the chaotic scene back under control. People were spread out all around. It’s a huge intersection. Tupac had eight or ten people in his group. There were some tourists around on the sidewalks but not on the street.


125esima Strada: How did Frank Alexander behave after he got out of his car? Did you interact with him?

Chris Carroll: I’ve heard this guys name before but I never spoke to him. Furthermore, I don’t ever remember seeing him there. I was the supervisor on the scene and spoke to everyone who was there. None of them ever told me that they were Tupac’s body guard. I heard a story (not from Alexander) that he was an ex cop who showed a badge at the scene, so the cops let him walk around and go back to Tupac’s car. Absolutely ridiculous story. That’s not how we work and I would have been the first to know if somebody there had a badge.


125esima Strada: How would you describe Tupac after you opened the car door?

Chris Carroll: When I opened the door he was slumped against it on the inside. So he sort of poured out into my arm and I set him down to the pavement. He was still breathing and conscious but he was in very bad shape. He was covered in blood and I could see he had been hit multiple times. He was making eye contact with Suge and he was squirming. He was trying to yell back to Suge, but he couldn’t do it. After a short time he physically gave up, stopped squirming and went into a resting position. I asked him several times who shot him, and what happened. He gave no response until he got enough of a breath together to tell me “Fuck You”.

125esima Strada: How likely is it in your opinion that Suge ordered Tupac's murder?

Chris Carroll: Suge did not order the murder. First, you do not sit next to a person who you know is going to be shot. This is evident by the fact that Suge was shot in the head during the shooting. The bullet pierced his scalp but not his skull. Additionally, I could see at the scene that Suge had a clear concern for Tupac. He was in a full blown panic as he could see that Tupac was probably dying.


125esima Strada: And how likely is it in your opinion that Orlando Anderson is either the shooter or is somehow involved in the shooting?

Chris Carroll: Orlando Anderson is the shooter. Usually the most simple and obvious answer is the correct answer, and in this case those rules apply. There has also been bits and pieces of evidence that have confirmed this. Many people often ask why the crime was not solved. The answer is that the crime was solved long ago. However, the guy who did it is dead, and has been dead for about twenty years. That ends everything. Perhaps there is justice in the fact that the murderer was murdered himself.