Afeni Shakur Files Civil Lawsuit Against Orlando Anderson

Four days after Orlando Anderson’s lawsuit, Afeni Shakur struck back. On September 12, 1997, one day before the first anniversary of Tupac’s death, she filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court. In it, she alleged that Orlando Anderson had stepped out of the white Cadillac and shot at Tupac. Estate attorney Richard Fischbein said that only in California does someone sue the estate of the man he is alleged to have killed.

A Police Document as the Basis

The lawsuit was based on an affidavit from the Compton police from the fall of 1996. It described the crime as the result of a rivalry between Death Row associates with ties to the Mob Piru Bloods and the Southside Crips. In a civil trial, a lower burden of proof is sufficient than in criminal proceedings.

Anderson, 23, broke his silence in the Los Angeles Times. He said he had nothing to do with the murder, Tupac had been a hero to him, and he owned every one of his records. He hoped that the real perpetrator would be caught so that his name would be cleared. His version in the magazine: Orlando Anderson: “Tupac Was My Hero”. How the suspicion was later evaluated is shown in Suspects in the Tupac Murder Case.