Investigators believe the shootings of people with close ties to rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight were designed to get at Knight himself. In the most recent slaying, shooters ambushed Wardell “Poochie” Fouse, a longtime Knight confidant late last month. Gunmen fired 10 shots into his back as he rode on a motorcycle in Compton, Calif.
Previous victims include Knight’s best friend and chief bodyguard, and the man who created the logo for Knight’s label Death Row Records. He was shot to death near a take-out stand in South Central Los Angeles. All of the killings are unsolved.
Police suspect that at least three of the shootings were ordered or carried out by two gang members who have a feud with Knight, according to the Los Angeles Times. One of them is reported to be a former Death Row bodyguard whom Knight fired.
Knight has said he doesn’t believe anyone is after him. He was recently sentenced to 10 months in prison after a parole board found that he struck a Hollywood nightclub valet.
The 6-foot-3, 315-pound Knight was placed on probation after being convicted in 1992 of pistol-whipping a man in a recording studio. In September 1996, Knight violated that probation and was imprisoned for five years after being caught on videotape, along with Shakur and others, beating a gang rival in the lobby of the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.
Shakur was shot and killed three hours later as he was riding in a BMW with Knight, who was wounded in the attack.
Knight was paroled from prison in 2001, but served 61 days behind bars earlier this year for associating with a known gang member in violation of his parole.
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