It's been 24 years since the world lost Tupac Shakur, but stories about the beloved rapper continue to be shared. Tupac was just 25-years-old when he was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, and since that time, his family, friends, and fans have kept his memory alive. One person who worked intimately with Tupac was Leon who starred alongside Shakur in the 1994 cult classic Above The Rim. Leon recently sat down with VladTV to reminisce about those days back in the early 1990s and recalled the time when Tupac shot two off-duty Atlanta police officers.
"We had to shut down production a couple times because he got into trouble either with police or wanting to get involved with somebody who [was] selling t-shirts of his. It was always things going on, unfortunately," said Leon. He did note that when it came to performing on set, "[Tupac] was one hundred" and "I thought he shined."
As the story goes for the shooting, Tupac and his crew had a caravan of cars in which the rapper was in the lead. They were driving up to the hotel they were staying at when they came across two White men beating up a Black man. Tupac decided that he didn't like the look of things so he jumped out of his car to make his presence known, and all of his crew did the same. Soon, one of the men fighting pulled out a gun and pointed it at the rapper. It was then that Tupac reportedly pulled up his shirt, flashed his "Thug Life" tattoo, and told him to shoot. Instead, the man broke the window to Pac's car with his gun and took off running with his friend. The incident escalated to Tupac firing shots of his own, injuring both men. It was later learned that the men were drunk off-duty cops and Tupac beat the case that was stacked against him.
Leon recalled finding out about the incident by reading the newspaper. "I'm like, I guess we're not doing that scene today," Leon said with a laugh. He also confirmed that while filming the basketball scene, Tupac handed out blunts to the crowd. Check out the clip of Leon's interview below.