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Mutulu Shakur, age 72, most famously known for being the stepfather of slain rapper Tupac Shakur, was granted release by the US Parole Commission on Friday, Dec. 16, due to a terminal illness, according to multiple news reports.
Shakur was serving a 60-year sentence, for the Rockland County incident that happened on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 1981 in Nanuet.
During the robbery, six people armed with high-powered weapons jumped from the rear of a U-Haul truck at a roadblock and fatally shot Nyack Police Sgt. Edward O'Grady and Officer Waverly "Chipper" Brown.
Nyack Det. Arthur Keenan and Officer Brian Lennon were injured.
Just 30 minutes before the roadblock slayings, the gunmen killed Brinks guard Peter Paige and wounded guard Joseph Trombino at the Nanuet Mall during the robbery of $1.6 million.
Trombino would later died during the Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks.
The robbery was committed by members of the Black Liberation Army members and former members of the Weather Underground and other radical groups of the 1960s and 1970s.
Rockland County Executive Ed Day, a former NYPD commander, asked: “How can a compassionate release be granted for someone who played a role in callously killing three people?
His early release is disrespectful and horribly insulting to the families of those who have been killed who can only see their loved ones at a gravesite.”
Shakur, who was on the FBI's Top 10 list while on the run for six years, was sentenced by a federal judge to prison in 1988, for operating a criminal enterprise, among other charges, including the Nanuet shooting.
Others involved in the crime include Judith Clark, who was granted parole in 2019; Kathy Boudin, who died this year from after being paroled in 2003, and David Gilbert who was paroled in October.
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