Tupac: vandalized and assassinated?
A bronze statue of the rapper was vandalized over the weekend in Stone Mountain at the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts (5616 Memorial Drive). DeKalb County police report that a cross was found around the neck of the statue; but Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation representatives state both a cross and a noose were found hanging on the statue.
In a press release issued today, the foundation links the incident to other recent hate crimes that have received national attention, such as the Jena 6 case:
The noose hung around the statue's neck is an imitation of other cases recently reported in the media after a surge of hate crimes. The statue was also plastered with handbills of garbled rants that include references to 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina as well as vague threats against various record companies and rappers. The manner of the attack indicates it is the work of one or more individuals.
A male found inebriated at the site Monday morning has been arrested by DeKalb police in connection with the vandalism. The investigation continues. Ironically, the center was supposed to serve as the primary site for a Monday rally to bring attention to the amount of killings by police in DeKalb County last year.
In other Tupac news, Kevin Hackie, one of the rapper's former bodyguards, publicly admitted at a recent L.A. screening of the new DVD documentary, Tupac: Assassination, that he was an undercover FBI agent during his employment as a bodyguard with Tupac's label Death Row Records from 1992 to 1996.
The surprising revelation comes at an inauspicious time considering the federal charges rapper T.I. faces, in part, as a result of his bodyguard's cooperation with federal ATF investigators.