At the Sites of Tupac Shakur’s Murder, for the Second Time

I am again in Las Vegas, three years after the first time, and this time too I have dedicated part of my time in Sin City to see the places where the tragic events of the evening when Tupac Shakur lost his life in crazy circumstances took place.

The first evening of my stay in the city of Nevada I meet Chris Carroll, the first policeman who intervened at the scene when the BMW driven by Suge Knight stopped at the intersection of Harmon Avenue and the Strip, and during our chat the conversation often falls on what happened that night in 1996 and on the latest news about the investigations.

While returning to the hotel I stop at the intersection of Koval and Flamingo where I had already been three years ago, but this time in the darkness of eleven at night, in an atmosphere more similar to the one when Tupac was killed. I park at a gas station and go down to see the memorial spontaneously created thanks to the messages from fans written in marker on a lamppost. I do not remember if three years ago there were writings on the ground as well, but what I notice for sure is that the lamppost is periodically repainted and the memorial is reborn each time thanks to the fans who want to leave their thought for the dead rapper. After all, just searching for images online shows that they are all different from my photos and from each other.

The next day I continue the tour and walking on the Strip I stop at the intersection with Harmon Avenue, exactly the one where Chris intervened after the BMW had to stop due to the breaking of two tires, caused not by the gunshots from the killer but by impacts against curbs and traffic islands, as Chris himself explained to me. Since 1996, the scene has changed significantly; it was not as built up as it is now, and indeed imagining a car speeding on these streets where traffic is always slow is very difficult.

The last stop is the MGM Grand where, after the match between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon, Tupac and his crew attacked Orlando Anderson, the gangster who most probably was the actual executor of the murder. I enter the hotel, pass the casino, and look for the exact spot, but it is very difficult to find because every hotel in Las Vegas is chaotic like a maze, and since 1996 the MGM Grand has been heavily renovated. I ask directions from a young security guard with little confidence, because that man in 1996 was certainly not even born, but to my surprise he knows exactly where to send me: to the restaurant area, in front of an Italian restaurant.

I find the area, and indeed the corridors and walkways match those in the fight video (although the right word would be beating, with Tupac and his crew as the aggressors). The passage seems much narrower than I expected, and I wonder what chaos a physical confrontation must have caused in such a confined space.

Among the most important places, there is nothing else left to see, so the tour ends here. Soon, this case will be discussed again, since in 2026 the trial will begin against Keffe D, the uncle of Orlando Anderson who at the intersection of Koval and Flamingo passed the gun to his nephew, which he would have used to kill Tupac. Keffe D is charged with murder according to Nevada law even though he is not the actual perpetrator. Seeing the locations in person always provides an understanding of the events that is impossible to gain otherwise, and so I leave Las Vegas with a new awareness of the dynamics of the murder that I did not have before, awaiting to see how the investigations evolve and for the next trip to Las Vegas, where I will find the city changed yet again from this second visit.