Reporter Stands By 2Pac Shooting Story

The LA Times reporter who wrote a story alleging that Sean “Diddy” Combs and Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace orchestrated a nearly fatal shooting of Tupac Shakur [click here to read feature...] is standing his ground.

Utilizing FBI testimony and anonymous firsthand accounts, Chuck Phillips’ article tells a story of how the two—along with Czar Records founder Jimmy Rosemond—planned the shooting at New York’s Quad Studios to, according to MTV, “punish Shakur for disrespecting them and rejecting their business overtures and, not incidentally, to curry favor with Combs.”

Diddy has dismissed the story, saying that him and B.I.G. had no knowledge of the attack, and that “It is a complete lie to suggest that there was any involvement by Biggie or myself.” He continued, “I am shocked that the Los Angeles Times would be so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story."

But MTV reports that in an online chat, Phillips defended his article, and reiterates points made in a previous piece he wrote that says Biggie and Diddy were in Vegas at the time of Tupac’s murder in the same city.

Phillips said that it hasn’t been proven that Biggie wasn’t in Vegas, because documents that were supposed to prove he was in New York have either been unreleased or unverified.

“I have since learned that federal officials conducted interviews in Las Vegas to determine whether Wallace was present,” he said. “My sources were there and say he and other east coast figures were in Las Vegas on the night the Southside Crips killed Tupac."

Phillips also said that he wasn’t originally pursuing the Quad Studios story, but that he “stumbled” on the story after discovering the names of Pac’s assailants while working on a different story. This is the first of a total of three more stories that Phillips claims he has coming by the end of the year. While he hasn’t said what they’re about, one of them is believed to be a report on who’s responsible for the shooting death of Biggie.