Suge Knight is officially the suspect of a homicide investigation following a fatal hit-and-run car accident that left one man dead and another injured.
Allegedly, Suge Knight killed a man in a hit-and-run after the filming of a promotional shoot for the upcoming N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton.
Knight is then believed to have fled the scene following the accident.
TMZ reports that Knight and friend Terry Carter were visiting the set when security guards asked the former Death Row executive to leave.
After exiting the vehicle, Knight then got into a fight with two crew members before getting back into his vehicle and gunning it into reverse.
However, Carter was reportedly attempting to reenter the vehicle by going behind the it toward the passenger door when Knight struck him.
Carter was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
However, according to the Los Angeles Times, about 20 minutes after the alleged argument on set, the victims were seen at nearby Tam’s Burgers.
Knight is believed to have followed the men in his truck and run them over in the parking lot, backing them over them before leaving the scene.
One victim, 55, died. The other, 51, suffered undisclosed injuries, and the incident is being treated as a homicide rather than a traffic accident.
Deaths caused by motor vehicles are considered homicides only if authorities determine the driver intentionally used the vehicle as a weapon.
The other man injured has been identified as actor Cle “Bone” Sloan. His relationship to Knight, along with Carter’s, remains the subject of debate.
After initially declining to name a suspect in the incident, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department later issued a BOLO (“Be on the look out”) alert.
Long story short: Knight is a suspect in a homicide investigation, but has not been charged with a crime or had a warrant issued for his arrest at this time.
His lawyer, James Blatt, confirmed the incident but wouldn’t elaborate on his client’s involvement, saying “Facts are all over the place right now.”
That is clearly true. The lawyer has been in contact with Suge since the incident to discuss the “next steps,” likely an arranged surrender to police.
Blatt added that Knight, 49, will turn himself in and “we are confident that once the investigation is completed, he will be totally exonerated.”
UPDATE: Knight has turned himself in to police to be interviewed and provide his version of the events that transpired, according to the Times.
Story developing …
In 1996, the music mogul Knight was behind wheel of a BMW in Las Vegas when passenger and rapper Tupac Shakur was slain in a drive-by.
That murder is still unsolved. A year later, Knight was sentenced to nine years in prison for violating the terms of his probation from an assault case.
He was released from prison in 2001, but was sent back to the big house two years later for violating parole when he hit a parking lot attendant.
In 2008, he was arrested in Las Vegas on suspicion of drug possession and assault. Last year, he and Katt Williams were arrested for robbery.
In August 2014, Knight was shot six times at Chris Brown’s VMA pre-party in L.A. After surgery and three days in the hospital, he was released.
