Omar Epps Saw Tupac 30 Minutes Before He Was Shot

While making a stop on Larry King Now during his promotional tour for the television show Resurrection, Omar Epps spoke candidly on the September 1996 night when his friend Tupac Shakur was tragically shot and killed. Epps, who starred with Tupac in the cult classic film Juice, rehashed the time the two spent together on set and their enduring friendship.

“Did you think [Tupac Shakur] would get that big?” King asked. “I didn’t know how big he was going to be, but I could feel it,” responded Epps. “Some people have that thing and Tupac had that unexplainable thing. He was a man of many faces...So articulate, so well read…[I] Loved him. Great, genuine person, charismatic, loyal, grounded….’Pac had that thing where he was a troubled soul in a sense….He was under a lot of pressure and had a lot of personal demons I think he was fighting.”

As the interview wore on, Epps told King that he was one of the last people to see Tupac alive.

“I saw him that night, actually,” said Epps. “I saw him literally a half hour before he was shot. We were at Vegas, we were at the [Mike Tyson] fight….We happened to be staying at the same hotel. We hadn’t seen each other in years; we hugged, asked ‘how’s your mother doing?’ everything was great. then I woke up at six in the morning and hear he had been shot.”

Throughout the 30 minute interview, Epps and King touch on the actor’s lengthy career, the rumors of a possible Juice remake, and Epps’ lookalike, Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin.—Peter Walsh 

[via Larry King Now]