LAS VEGAS, Nev., Sept. 9 -- Rapper-actor Tupac Shakur remained in critical condition Monday, a day after undergoing surgery to remove a lung injured in an ambush shooting near the Las Vegas Strip. Doctors removed Shakur's right lung during a second round of emergency surgery at University Medical Center, spokesman Kevin Workman said. Shakur, 25, was shot in the chest at least three times after he and Marion 'Suge' Knight, the chairman of Death Row Records, drove away from the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon heavyweight title fight Saturday night. The pairwere among a convoy of luxury cars apparently headed for a nightclub. Shakur was in the passenger seat of the black BMW driven by Knight when a white Cadillac pulled up and someone inside began firing before speeding away near the Maxim casino just off The Strip. Police said they are getting little cooperation. At a news conference Monday, police Sgt. Kevin Manning said investigators have gotten contradictory reports from witnesses who were asked to describe the suspect's car. 'It amazes me that when we have professional bodyguards as part of this entourage that they can't even give us an accurate description of the vehicle,' Manning said. 'Based upon witness accounts at this point we have a white, late '90s Cadillac, four-door,' the sergeant added. 'Depending on which witness we listen to, it either had California or Nevada plates on it, and nobody at this point has been able to give us any numbers or letters that may have been on that plate.'
Knight, 31, who produces the work of Shakur and other rappers, including Hammer and Snoop Doggy Dogg, was grazed in the head and was released from the hospital Sunday. The Death Row entourage had reportedly gotten into an altercation earlier in the evening with members of a local street gang opposed to the Bloods set from Knight's old neighborhood in Compton, Calif. Shakur has recently said he is trying to tone down his 'gangsta' image. Shakur starred in the film 'Poetic Justice' with singer Janet Jackson and has been working on another film, 'Gridlock.' His latest album, 'All Eyez on Me,' has sold about 5 million copies. It is the second time Shakur has been injured in the last two years. He was shot five times in November 1994 by robbers in the lobby of a New York City recording studio. Shakur has a long history of run-ins with the law, including convictions for carrying a concealed weapon in Los Angeles; assault and battery; sexual assault in New York City and assault in Michigan.
