Death of Meredith Hunter

The Hells Angels had agreed to provide security for $500 (about US $3,538 adjusted for inflation, 2019) worth of beer. They stood directly in front of the bands in an effort to keep people off the unusually low stage, which had been set up at the bottom of a low slope. They parked several of their motorcycles in front of the stage to act "as a kind of bulwark against the crowd".

A documentary that aired on BBC in 2008 reported that, subsequent to the concert, members of the Hells Angels unsuccessfully tried to murder Mick Jagger.

Over the years, there have been rumors that a second, unidentified assailant had inflicted the fatal wounds; as a result, the police considered the case still open. On May 25, 2005, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office announced that it was officially closing the case. Investigators, concluding a renewed two-year investigation, dismissed the theory that a second Hells Angel took part in the stabbing.

The Rolling Stones have stated that they were unaware that a killing had taken place during their set; in the Gimme Shelter documentary, Jagger notices the commotion in the crowd and threatens to end the performance until a stagehand pulls him aside and informs him about someone with a gun. The film then cuts to Jagger viewing raw footage of the killing, apparently for the first time. In 1995, Jagger commented on Hunter's death in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine publisher Jann Wenner, who asked, "After the concert itself, when it became apparent that somebody got killed, how did you feel?" Jagger replied, "Well, awful. I mean, just awful. You feel a responsibility. How could it all have been so silly and wrong? But I didn't think of these things that you guys thought of, you in the press: this great loss of innocence, this cathartic end of the era ... I didn't think of any of that. That particular burden didn't weigh on my mind. It was more how awful it was to have had this experience and how awful it was for someone to get killed...",

Passaro drowned in Anderson Lake in southern Santa Clara County in 1985; police said "the death is kind of suspicious", though foul play was never confirmed. He is buried at Los Gatos Memorial Park in San Jose, California.

The incident was caught on camera and became a central scene in the Maysles Brothers documentary Gimme Shelter. Passaro was charged with murder and tried in 1971. Following 17 days of testimony, an eight-man, four-woman jury deliberated for 12 and a half hours before Passaro was acquitted on grounds of self-defense.

In 2006, filmmaker Sam Green released a short documentary titled Lot 63, Grave C, which revolves around the last day of Hunter's life and the unmarked grave in which he was buried on December 10, 1969 at the Skyview Memorial Lawn cemetery in Vallejo. After the film was screened widely at film festivals, several people sent donations to the cemetery to buy Meredith Hunter a headstone, which was installed in 2008.

Meredith Curly Hunter, Jr. (October 24, 1951 – December 6, 1969) was an 18-year-old African American who was killed at the 1969 Altamont Free Concert. During the performance by The Rolling Stones, Hunter approached the stage, and was violently driven off by members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club who had agreed to serve as security guards. He subsequently returned to the stage area, drew a revolver, and was stabbed and beaten to death by Hells Angel Alan Passaro.