PAGE ONE -- Settlement in Rapper's Trial For Boy's Death

Under a confidential settlement reached yesterday, a record company for rap star Tupac Shakur has agreed to pay between $300,000 and $500,000 to the parents of a 6-year-old boy who was killed by a stray bullet during a scuffle at an outdoor festival in Marin City in 1992, The Chronicle has learned.

Attorneys for Shakur and the parents of Qa'id Walker-Teal reached the settlement in a lawsuit brought by the dead child's family after several hours of closed-door negotiations and before any witnesses to the shooting took the stand. The agreement came one day after opening statements in the trial of the wrongful death suit.

The lawyers would not publicly discuss details of the pact. However, sources familiar with the agreement said a record firm, whose name they would not disclose, will pay the parents more than $300,000, but less than $500,000, to settle the suit. They would not be more specific about the amount.

Before the trial began, representatives for Shakur offered a $300,000 settlement; it was rejected. Shakur, whose music and lyrics are laced with references to sex and violence, has been arrested six times since 1993 on various charges including assault. Last month, the 24-year-old was released on $1.4 million bail from a state prison in New York while he appeals a conviction for sexually abusing a fan at a Manhattan hotel.

Shakur, who did not attend the proceeding, and Qa'id's parents were unavailable last night for comment.

In their opening remarks Monday, lawyers for both sides agreed that the bullet that hit the boy came from a .380 Colt automatic handgun that was registered to Shakur. But they gave differing versions of how the shooting took place.

In their lawsuit, the boy's parents, Ocita Teal and Darrell Walker, accused Shakur and his half- brother Maurice Harding of causing the death of their son on the afternoon of Aug. 22, 1992.

Jane Lovell, representing Qa'id's parents, told the jury in her opening remarks that Shakur was carrying a concealed weapon when a fight broke out, that he drew the weapon and brandished it, but dropped it -- and then yelled at Harding to "get the gun." She said several shots were fired, including the one that killed Qa'id on a nearby school yard.

Shakur's lawyer, Dennis Cunningham, told the jury that the rap musician was posing for photographs and signing autographs for more than an hour before the fight broke out. Shakur, who lived as a teenager with his mother in Marin City, was living at the time in Oakland.

Suddenly, Shakur and Harding, who had accompanied the rap star, were attacked by a mob of angry people who said they were insulted by derogatory remarks they claimed Shakur had made about Marin City in a broadcast interview, Cunningham said. At one point, someone fired a gun over the heads of the crowd to scare them off, the lawyer said.

Qa'id was pedaling his bicycle at a school playground nearby when a bullet struck him in the forehead and killed him. No one was ever charged with the boy's death. Police held Shakur for 12 hours and Harding for several days after the shooting. Each was released for lack of evidence.

Qa'id's parents planned to call as many as 29 witnesses to the events involving the shooting. The trial, which also would have included police witnesses, was expected to take about a month.

Final settlement negotiations in the civil case took place outside the presence of the jury. At about 3 p.m., the lawyers privately disclosed the settlement agreement to Judge Gerald Ragan. The judge then called the 12-member jury back to the courtroom, dismissed them and ordered the case file sealed from public view.

"The matter has been resolved and settled satisfactorily between and among the parties, and the court record has been ordered sealed," court reporter Sherry Reed said.

The shooting occurred during an annual outdoor festival that in 1992 celebrated Marin City's 50th anniversary. The community festival, among the longest-running events conducted by African Americans in Northern California, has not been held since Qa'id's death.