LAPD Apologizes to Notorious B.I.G's Family for Autopsy Release

The Los Angeles Police Department has issued an apology to the family of The Notorious B.I.G., after it made his autopsy public without informing his relatives ahead of time.

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Police said the records relating to the March 1997 slaying of the rapper, whose real name was Christopher George Latore Wallace, were released prematurely Friday “due to an administrative error,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

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“Robbery-Homicide Division detectives had intended to notify Mr. Wallace's family prior to releasing the report," the LAPD said in a statement.

“Our detectives personally spoke with the Wallace family [Friday] night and apologized for not notifying them prior to the release" said Capt. Billy Hayes, who heads the Robbery-Homicide Division. "Obviously this has been a challenging case for us to solve.  We hope that witnesses or other people with information will come forward and give us the clues we need to solve this case."

A lawyer for the Wallace family had criticized the way the autopsy was released.

The 23-page document the LAPD unsealed Friday revealed new information about the slaying of the Brooklyn rapper. Police hoped it would generate new leads for the unsolved drive-by shooting that occurred as Wallace sat in an SUV near the Petersen Automotive Museum on Wilshire Boulevard.

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The autopsy revealed the gunshot that killed him entered his right hip, cut through his colon, liver, heart and part of his lung, before coming to rest in the area of his right shoulder. He was struck by three other bullets, though the report revealed officials could not determine the order in which they hit him.

Doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center performed emergency surgery on Wallace after the shooting, but to no avail. He was 24.