Afeni Shakur, mother of slain rapper Tupac, dies at 69
Tupac Shakur with his mother, Afeni.
Afeni Shakur Davis, the mother of slain rapper Tupac Shakur, died in her Bay Area home Monday night, sheriff’s officials said.
A family friend called 911 at 9:34 p.m. to Shakur Davis’ home in Sausalito after she was experienced “physical distress,” according to the Marin County Sheriff’s Office. She had been feeling discomfort earlier that day and tried to treat her ailments at home, but her medical condition worsened, sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Doug Pittman said.
Paramedics found Shakur Davis unresponsive and performed CPR.
The 69-year-old was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 10:28 p.m., sheriff’s officials said.
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Shakur Davis was a “well-known and respected member of our community” in southern Marin County, he said.
“This is a tragic loss to the community,” said Pittman, who first met the long-time Bay Area resident in 1988 when he worked as a deputy.
The coroner’s division of the Marin County Sheriff’s Office will investigate to determine the cause and manner of her death. Investigators plan to talk to her family and review her medical records.
Pittman said no foul play was suspected. Officials believe Shakur Davis suffered from cardiac arrest, he said.
Shakur Davis oversaw the late rapper’s estate after his untimely death in 1996. Tupac Shakur died at 25 after a 1996 drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.
Last year, Afeni Shakur offered up never-before-seen artifacts from the rapper’s estate for “All Eyez on Me: The Writings of Tupac Shakur,” an exhibit at the Grammy Museum.
The exhibit featured Shakur’s handwritten notes, lyrics and poems, interview and performance footage, and outfits he wore.
The rapper most famously penned the poem “The Rose That Grew from Concrete” and his hit song “Dear Mama” for his mother.
“I say it every time, that Tupac left us the blueprints to follow,” said Shakur Davis in 2006.
Shakur Davis was a member of the Black Panther Party and spent part of the time she was pregnant with the rapper in prison. As a member of the New York 21, she was accused — and acquitted — of conspiring to bomb department stores and police stations.
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