Orlando Anderson, 23, a reputed L.A. gang member who was at one point named by Los Angeles police as a suspect in the fatal Sept. 7, 1996, Las Vegas drive-by shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur, was killed in a shootout in Compton, Calif., on Friday afternoon, according to Captain Steve Roller of the Compton Police Department.

Anderson was one of three men shot and killed during the gunfight, which erupted outside a car wash and which Roller said was thought to be sparked by a dispute over an unpaid debt. "This is not related whatsoever to the shooting of Tupac Shakur," Roller said of the triple homicide.

A 24-year-old suspect in the shooting, Michael Reed Dorough, the only survivor of the gunfight, is in custody, after being booked on suspicion of murder, according to Roller, who added that "even though all the men involved were gang members, this is not something that is being classified as gang-related."

Anderson filed suit against Shakur's estate in September of last year in connection with a beating he received in the lobby of the MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas on the night of Shakur's murder. The suit named his alleged attackers in the incident, Shakur and imprisoned Death Row boss Marion "Suge" Knight, based on alleged mental and physical injuries suffered in the attack. Anderson was never charged with Shakur's murder but remained the most prominent suspect in the still-unsolved case.

Less than one week after Anderson filed his suit, Shakur's mother, Afeni Shakur, answered with a wrongful death lawsuit, filed on Sept. 12 in California Superior Court in Los Angeles. The countersuit claimed that Anderson was the trigger man in the fatal shooting of gangsta-rapper Shakur. The suit sought damages and medical and funeral costs.

At the time, Anderson's lawyer, Renee Campbell, told SonicNet Music News, "I can't understand why she's filing suit against this man. There is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Anderson is responsible for the death of her son. The suit has no merit."