Rapper’s killer gets reduced sentence after plea deal
The late Tupac Shakur will have a stretch of an Oakland street renamed for him after a unanimous vote by the city council earlier this week.
Shakur was born in Harlem, New York, and later lived in Baltimore, Maryland, as well as in Marin City, California. But he credited Oakland, California, as the location where he got his “game” and launched his career, according to legislation authorising the commemorative street renaming.
A stretch of MacArthur Boulevard by Lake Merritt, where Shakur once lived, will keep its existing name, but also receive the additional, honorary name of Tupac Shakur Way. Commemorative plaques and signs signalling the change will be paid for by the Tupac Shakur Foundation.
Oakland has honoured others with street names, including Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton and rapper and record producer Too Short.
Shakur was 25 when he was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1996.
The city council legislation said the renamed part of the street will remind people of Shakur’s contributions to Oakland and celebrate art and culture as a catalyst for societal change.
No timeline was provided for the name change.
AFlorida man who testified against three former friends who murdered rising rap star XXXTentacion during a robbery five years ago, will spend the next two years in prison, a judge ruled on Wednesday.
Circuit Judge Michael Usan sentenced Robert Allen to seven years in prison, with credit for the five years he has already spent at the Broward County jail. He will then spend 20 years on probation. He could have received a life sentence. Allen, 27, pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder and testified earlier this year against Michael Boatwright, 27, Dedrick Williams, 27, and Trayvon Newsome, 25. They were convicted of first-degree murder in March and sentenced to life in prison.
During the month-long trial, prosecutors linked Allen, Boatwright, Williams and Newsome to the June 18, 2018 shooting outside Riva Motorsports in suburban Fort Lauderdale through extensive surveillance video taken inside and outside the store. They stole $50,000 and made cell-phone videos hours after the shooting showing them flashing fistfuls of $100 bills.
XXXTentacion, whose legal name was Jahseh Onfroy, had just left Riva Motorsports with a friend when an SUV swerved in front of him and blocked his BMW.
Surveillance video showed two masked gunmen emerging and confronting the 20-year-old singer at the driver’s window, and one shot him repeatedly. They then grabbed a Louis Vuitton bag containing cash that XXXTentacion had just withdrawn from the bank, got back into the SUV and sped away. The friend was not harmed.
Boatwright was identified as the primary shooter, with Newsome being identified as the other gunman. Williams was the group’s leader and the driver of the SUV.
Allen testified that the men set out that day to commit robberies and went to the motorcycle shop to buy Williams a mask. There they spotted the rapper and decided to make him their target. Allen and Williams went inside the shop to confirm it was him. They then went back to the SUV they had rented, waited for XXXTentacion to emerge and ambushed him.