Atlanta authorities have shot down reports that a noose was hung around a bronze statue of Tupac Shakur at the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts in Georgia this past weekend.

A press release issued yesterday (October 24) by the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts claimed that the center was vandalized in the early morning hours of Saturday (October 20) and Monday (October 22).

The release claimed that a noose was hung around the neck of Tupac’s bronze statue located in the center and a nearby building was 'plastered with handbills of garbled rants about 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, rappers and various record companies'.

The release would also state that the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office was investigating the incidents as hate crimes, and a man who was arrested at the center on Monday morning, was in custody as ‘one or more individuals’ who took part in the vandalistic acts.

According to The Atlanta Journal Constitution, DeKalb County police spokesman Marcus Hodge revealed that an orange nylon string with a wooden cross attached was found around the neck of Tupac’s statue, not a noose.

Hodge also added that the incidents were not being investigated as hate crimes.

Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames. >Hodge said he didn’t know where the confusion arose from.  He also said that the center’s press release will not affect the investigation.

“They're just exercising their First Amendment rights to say what they want to say,” Hodge said.

Hodge claims that when authorities were called to the center on Saturday, underwear was
on the head of Tupac’s statue and an orange string was around its neck.  Stickers were also placed on the statue and on nearby walls.

Two days later, police responded to a call from the center by a security guard who said he had detained a 37-year-old man found trespassing the property.

The man, who told police he was at the center to talk to Tupac, was arrested on suspicion of public drunkenness and trespassing.

The police would be called back to the center an hour later after 'more damage was discovered to the center's outdoor pavilions'.

Versa Manos, the spokeswoman for the center who issued the press release, told The Atlanta Journal Constitution that the center is standing by its release.

Manos claimed the information was given to her by people at the center.