“After nearly three decades since the tragic killing, a suspect has been apprehended in connection with the untimely demise of hip hop icon Tupac Shakur.
On Friday (Sept. 29), prosecutors revealed that a Nevada grand jury had indicted Duane “Keffe D” Davis for Shakur’s killing. The charges were announced by officials during a press conference.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo stated that the grand jury had been deliberating on the case for “several months” and identified Davis as the individual who “orchestrated the death” of Shakur.
During the indictment hearing, Clark County District Judge Jerry Wiese denied Davis bail.
“It has often been said that justice delayed is justice denied,” remarked District Attorney Steve Wolfson. “In this case, justice has been delayed, but justice won’t be denied.”
On September 7, 1996, Shakur, 25, fell victim to a drive-by shooting while traveling in a car with then-Death Row Records CEO Marion “Suge” Knight, following the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon championship fight at the MGM Grand Hotel.
As Knight’s black BMW halted at a red light on the Las Vegas Strip, a white Cadillac pulled up alongside and opened fire. Shakur sustained multiple gunshot wounds and succumbed to his injuries six days later, at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada.
While these details have been known for nearly three decades, Las Vegas Police Homicide Lt. Jason Johansson explained to reporters on Friday that members of two rival Los Angeles gang factions, the Southside Crips (to which Davis, his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, and two others belonged), and members of the MOB Piru Bloods gang set (with which Knight was affiliated), were involved in a confrontation at the hotel. This confrontation led to an altercation where Anderson was attacked by Shakur, Knight, and others associated with Death Row Records, ultimately triggering the shooting.
Johansson stated that after the altercation, Davis sought to obtain a gun for retaliation. Once he secured the weapon, he joined two other individuals identified as Terrence Brown and DeAndre Smith, along with Anderson. At a certain point, Davis passed the weapon to the back seat, and the group located the vehicle carrying Knight and Shakur, resulting in the tragic gunfire.
In his book, ‘Compton Street Legend,’ Davis reportedly admitted to his involvement in Shakur’s killing to the Los Angeles Police Department, asserting that Anderson shot and killed Shakur with a gun handed to him after the rapper and his entourage assaulted Anderson at the MGM Grand hotel.
“Mr. Davis formulated a plan to exact revenge upon Mr. Knight and Mr. Shakur” in his nephew’s defense, DiGiacomo stated at the hearing Friday.
Davis is now the sole surviving individual who was present in the car that fateful night. According to The Los Angeles Times, Anderson was killed in an unrelated gang shootout in Compton, Calif., in 1998. Brown was fatally shot in 2015 at a Compton marijuana dispensary, while Smith passed away from natural causes in 2004.
In July, police announced that a search warrant was executed at Davis’s residence as part of their investigation. Items related to the murder of Tupac Shakur were listed in the search warrant. Authorities collected multiple computers, a cellphone with a hard drive, a Vibe magazine featuring Shakur, several .40-caliber bullets, two containers of photographs, and a copy of Davis’ memoir.
Johansson noted that the investigation had been on the desks of various Las Vegas police detectives for years, but only recently did enough evidence emerge to bring criminal charges.
“It wasn’t until 2018 that this case was reinvigorated as additional information came to light related to this homicide,” he explained. “Specifically Duane Davis’ own admissions to his involvement in this homicide investigation that he provided to numerous different media outlets.”
One of the places Davis discussed Tupac’s death was in the Netflix documentary ‘Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and Notorious B.I.G.’ In the film, Davis mentioned that he was present in the car when the shots were fired. He recounted passing the weapon to the back seat. Brown declined the gun, but Anderson took it and fired the fatal shots, according to a confession that was recorded under immunity and featured in the documentary.
“People have been pursuing me for 20 years,” Davis stated in the documentary. “I’m coming out now because I have cancer. And I have nothing else to lose. All I care about now is the truth.”
Less than six months after Shakur’s tragic passing, his rival, the Notorious B.I.G., whose real name was Christopher Wallace and who also became a rap legend, met a similar fate in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles on March 9, 1997.
To this day, no one has been arrested or charged for the Brooklyn rapper’s murder. While never confirmed, many have speculated that the deaths of the two rappers were linked due to their public feud, which gave rise to the so-called “East Coast vs. West Coast” rivalry.”
