NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 25: American rapper, songwriter, and actor (1971-1996) Tupac Shakur poses for a portrait during the 1994 Source Awards on April 25, 1994 at the Paramount Theatre in New York, New York. (Photo by Bob Berg/Getty Images)
Tupac Shakur‘s stepfather was released from prison after serving nearly 40 years behind bars for the 1981 Brinks armored-truck heist that left two police officers and a security guard dead.
On Monday, Mutulu Shakur was granted release by the U.S. Parole Commission for medical reasons while serving a 60-year sentence, according to lohud.com.
The 72-year-old – a former Black Liberation Army member and stepfather to the legendary slain rapper – is now terminally ill, the outlet reports.
“The decision to grant parole is based on federal law guidelines for ‘old law’ prisoners, finding that Dr. Shakur poses no threat to the community,” reads a statement on mutulushakur.com, a website maintained by his supporters.
The parole board reportedly took into account Shakur’s “exemplary conduct in prison, his medical condition and how much time he has served,” the statement went on to say.
His release did not come as a total shock, however, as it was revealed he would be freed in court documents published last month.
“We now find your medical condition renders you so infirm of mind and body that you are no longer physically capable of committing any federal, state or local crime,” the parole commissioner wrote of Shakur at the time.
Mutulu was married to Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, in the 1970s and 1980s. The rapper himself was killed in a 1996 drive-by shooting in Las Vegas following a Mike Tyson fight.
Mutulu belonged to a politically radical group known as “The Family,” an organization made up of members of the Black Liberation Army and the Weather Underground.
The group, including Mutulu, committed a dozen robberies between 1976 and 1981, right before the deadly Brinks attack in Rockland County, New York, just north of New York City, according to lohud.com.
The group’s crime spree effectively ended on Oct. 20. 1981, when the crew shot and killed Brinks security guard Peter Paige and wounded his partner, Joseph Trombino, after stealing $1.6 million from their armored truck at the now-closed Nanuet Mall.
Trombino was later killed at the World Trade Center during the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack, according to the outlet.
They then opened fire on cops after reaching a roadblock on the New York State Thruway, killing Nyack Police Sgt. Edward O’Grady and Officer Waverly “Chipper” Brown before fleeing the scene.
Mutulu ended up on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list for years following the violent crime, and remained a fugitive until he was located in California in Feb. 1986.
Others involved in the crime have since been paroled or released in the years since Mutulu’s capture.
Kathy Boudin served 22 years before being paroled in 2003. She died of cancer this past May, lohud reports. Judith Clark was paroled in 2019, while David Gilbert was released in October.
Their releases have been routinely criticized by cops and supporters of law enforcement.