Sean Combs traveled in the other vehicle with Eugene "Gene" Deal, Tone, Stevie J and driver Kenny. member Lil' Cease, and driver Gregory "G-Money" Young. Wallace traveled in the front passenger seat alongside his associates Damion "D-Roc" Butler, Junior M.A.F.I.A. Prior to leaving, the Los Angeles Fire Department closed the party early because of smoking and loud music. ( PST), Wallace left with his entourage in two Chevrolet Suburbans to attend an after-party at Steve Stoute's house in the Hollywood Hills. Photographer Eric Johnson said that he was supposed to photograph Biggie in Los Angeles in 1997, but that he could not be pinpointed to a location because Biggie kept getting death threats. Other guests included Faith Evans, Aaliyah, Chris Tucker, the Wayans brothers, Ginuwine, Irv Gotti, Jewell, Jermaine Dupri, Da Brat, Missy Elliot, Timbaland, Kenny Burns, DJ Clue, Clark Kent, DJ Quik, Ed Lover, and members of the Bloods and Crips gangs.
The following evening, March 8, he and the Bad Boy Records entourage attended an after-party hosted by Vibe magazine and Qwest Records at the Petersen Automotive Museum set up by Kidada Jones in the Carthay Circle community of Los Angeles. The next morning Wallace was scheduled to go to London but this did not happen. On March 7, Wallace presented an award to Toni Braxton at the 1997 Soul Train Music Awards and was booed by some of the audience. Life After Death was scheduled for release on March 25, 1997. Wallace cited that the reasons for the decision were not only the ongoing East Coast–West Coast hip hop feud and the murder of Tupac Shakur six months prior, but that security was simply a necessity for high-profile celebrity figures in general. On March 5, he gave a radio interview with The Dog House on San Francisco's KYLD, in which he stated that he had hired security because he feared for his safety. Ĭhristopher Wallace traveled to Los Angeles, California, in February 1997 to promote his upcoming second studio album, Life After Death, and to film a music video for its lead single, " Hypnotize". Retired LAPD Officer Greg Kading alleged that Marion "Suge" Knight, the head of Death Row Records, orchestrated the murder in revenge for the September 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur in a similar drive-by homicide by gunshot. In 2006, Wallace's mother, Voletta Wallace, his widow, Faith Evans, and his children T'yanna Jackson and Christopher Jordan "CJ" Wallace, filed a $400 million second wrongful death lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) alleging that corrupt officers were responsible for Wallace's death. Harry Billups (suspected shooter by Russell Poole)Ĭhristopher Wallace, an American rapper known professionally as the Notorious B.I.G., was murdered in a drive-by shooting in the early hours of Main Los Angeles, California. Suge Knight (allegedly orchestrated killing).Wardell "Poochie" Fouse ( suspected shooter, murdered in 2003).Murder by drive-by shooting, assassinationīlue-steel 9mm pistol (exact model and brand unknown)ġ (Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. "The Notorious B.I.G.")