đ¨ Suge Knight Reveals Afeni Shakurâs Final Words After Tupacâs 1996 Shooting
Nearly three decades later, Suge Knight claims Tupacâs mother, Afeni Shakur, delivered a heartbreaking message to doctors as her son fought for his life: âLet him go.â
The emotional account is reopening old wounds â and raising new questions about what really happened in those final hospital hours.
đ The full story behind that moment is hitting fans hard.
Suge Knight Recalls Afeni Shakurâs Final Message to Doctors Treating 2Pac After 1996 Shooting: âLet Him Goâ
After emergency surgeries and a lung removal, the rapper was pronounced dead on Sept. 13, 1996.

Tupac Shakur and Marion ‘Suge’ Knight, of Death Row Records, outside Club 662, Las Vegas, Nevada, circa 1996.Nitro/Getty Images
Suge Knight recalled his final moments by 2Pacâs side in September 1996 while chatting from behind bars with People in a story published Tuesday (July 1).
The Death Row honchoâs life was forever changed the night his BMW was peppered with shots at the intersection of East Flamingo and Koval Lane in Las Vegas while riding with 2Pac on Sept. 7 following a Mike Tyson boxing fight at the MGM Grand.
âI got out and tried to tell the officers what happened while I was bleeding everywhere,â Knight remembered of the chaotic scene. âAlso, I then was getting 2Pac out the car, even when the door was open. I had to go over there bleeding everywhere, take the seat belt off him. When we get into the ambulance, Pac is funny as fâk. He cracking jokes. Iâm cracking jokes. Pacâs like, âSât, when we heal up, you know what we doing.’â
Pac underwent multiple emergency surgeries, including a lung removal, to combat his internal bleeding. Knight claimed that Pac, floating in and out of consciousness, wanted to be killed before ever going back to jail because of his role in the casino brawl that took place hours earlier.
Suge Knight alleged that the rapper had pleaded with mom Afeni Shakur about ending his life, and Knight claims that Afeni gave him pills to assist in expediting that process.
âThe doctors came in and brought him back. And his mom said, âDonât ever do that again. If heâs having complications, donât touch him,â Knight claimed of Afeniâs message to doctors after seeing enough of her baby fighting for his life. âDonât bring him back. Let him go.’â
2Pac passed away shortly after 4 p.m. PT on Sept. 13, 1996. The legendary rapper was quickly cremated, which his mother was a proponent of, but Knight stated that Pac had different plans for his funeral.
â[2Pac] told me, âWhen I go, I want every rapper at my funeral to grab the mic. I want them to kiss me head to toe. Just like in âLife Goes On.â He didnât want to be cremated,â he claimed. Knight said he ended up paying an affiliate $1 million in cash for Pacâs cremation.
Afeni Shakur passed away at 69 years old on May 2, 2016. At the time, the Marin County Sheriffâs Office reported that she had suffered possible cardiac arrest.
Twenty-seven years after 2Pacâs murder, Duane âKeffe Dâ Davis was arrested in September 2023 and is facing a murder charge. He remains in jail awaiting trial, which is slated to begin in February 2026.