More About First Shooting In NewYork 1994

The first shooting (New York)

In 1994, shortly before being sent to prison for sexual abuse, Shakur was shot five times in an apparent robbery attempt outside a New York music studio. Tupac recalled the circumstances shortly afterwards in an interview with Vibe magazine. He was with his close friend Stretch, manager Freddie Moore, and another friend on the night of November 30, 1994.

They arrived at a studio so Shakur could do some recordings for an acquaintance, Booker, whom he didn't quite trust. When they got to the studio, Tupac was suspicious of two black men in their thirties, both dressed in army fatigues, because neither of them seemed to acknowledge his presence. He noted that he was less wary of them than he should have been because he "had just finished smoking chronic". Shakur simply assumed they must be security for The Notorious B.I.G. (aka Biggie), whom he was still friends with at the time.

The two men, whom Shakur described as looking like they were from New York, came at him with identical 9mm handguns, and forced him and his friends to the floor. Their aggression was focused almost exclusively on Tupac, although they did threaten to shoot Stretch as well. They forced everybody to lie on the floor, but Tupac remained standing. He later said he had frozen. They demanded he hand over his jewelry, which he refused to do. After grabbing at one of the armed men, Tupac was shot in the leg, through his scrotum. He fell to the floor, and was shot a further 4 times, which he later claimed not to have realised; he believed he was being kicked & that his head was being beaten upon the floor. He recalled seeing white light, but never believed he could die. He lay silent, pretending to be dead. He was shot 5 times in total and robbed of the gold jewelry he was wearing, worth over forty thousand dollars.

Upon regaining consciousness, he entered the elevator and went upstairs to safety, where his then-friends Biggie, Puffy, Little Caesar, and others were waiting. Shakur described his friends as acting very strangely, almost surprised at his being alive. His first words after realizing how severe his wounds were, having been shot in the head and the scrotum, were "Oh, shit. Roll me some weed. Call my mom and tell her I've been shot." He was also very surprised that none of his other friends, who were also wearing jewelry weren't robbed. He survived, and left the hospital a day after, against doctor's orders because he was feeling harassed by phone calls and the doctors. He showed up in court just few days afterwards in a wheelchair to face his verdict in the sexual assault case.