LA Times prints Tupac retraction

LOS ANGELES, April 7 (UPI) -- The Los Angeles Times has issued a retraction of an article about the alleged circumstances surrounding the 1994 shooting of famed U.S. rapper Tupac Shakur.

The newspaper said the story and related materials published on its Web site March 17 have been removed because they were based largely on documents now believed to be fabricated.

Also retracted is a version of the article that ran in the paper March 19, as well as statements the story's author made in online chats March 18 and 25, and on The Times' Soundboard blog March 21.

The Times said it began investigating the accuracy of its article after the editor of The SmokingGun.com called reporter Chuck Philips March 25 to say he suspected the supposed FBI documents posted on LATimes.com were fakes.

TheSmoking Gun.com posted a detailed analysis of the documents the next day on its Web site.

The Times published a front-page story March 27, stating it had been the victim of a hoax and issuing an apology.

The article said FBI documents suggested Sean "P. Diddy" Combs was told Shakur was going to be attacked ahead of time and that the assault was carried out by individuals wishing to curry favor with Combs.