The Killing of Tupac Shakur

Cathy Scott was a crime reporter at the Las Vegas Sun when word of the shooting came in on the night of September 7, 1996. She covered the case from the start and turned that work into the first full-length book about the crime. Las Vegas publisher Huntington Press released it in September 1997, on the first anniversary of Tupac’s death.

About the book

What it covers

Scott reconstructs the evening after the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon fight, the ride in Suge Knight’s car and the shots fired at an intersection just off the Strip. She describes an investigation that, in her telling, went nowhere fast, witnesses who claimed to have seen nothing, the tension between Bloods and Crips, and the killing of The Notorious B.I.G. six months later. The book lays out several possible motives without settling on one.

Assessment

A serious piece of journalistic true crime, and for years the standard work on the case. It caused a stir because Scott printed a photo from the coroner’s office. Las Vegas police opened an internal inquiry into how the image got out, which led nowhere. MTV News said the photo should put an end to rumours that Tupac was still alive. In June 2000 the paperback reached No. 2 on the Los Angeles Times nonfiction bestseller list.

The 1997 and 2002 versions predate the later statements by Duane “Keffe D” Davis and his conviction in August 2026. For where the case stands today, see the 1996 shooting. If 2002 is given as the publication year, that refers to the second edition.