TUPAC SHAKUR - SUSPECT CHARGED WITH DEFACING TUPAC STATUE

LATEST: One man has been charged in connection with the vandalism of a statue of slain rapper TUPAC SHAKUR. Kenneth Anthony Wilson, 43, was arrested by DeKalb County police in Georgia last Thursday (01Nov07) after vandals defaced the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts in Stone Mountain, and tied a noose around the neck of the bronze statue on 20 October (07). Local resident Wilson now faces a felony charge of second degree criminal damage to property and is being held on $1,500 (GBP750). But Wilson, who is of African-American descent, has not been charged with a hate crime because there was no evidence to suggest the vandalism was motivated by race, according to DeKalb Police spokesperson Mekka Parish. Shakur was shot dead in Las Vegas in September 1996.