27 Years After Tupac Shakur Killing, a Murder Charge

Duane 'Keffe D' Davis allegedly 'ordered the death' of the rapper
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 29, 2023 12:03 PM CDT
Updated Sep 29, 2023 2:17 PM CDT
Police Make Arrest in Killing of Tupac Shakur in 1996
Rapper Tupac Shakur attends a voter registration event in South Central Los Angeles, Aug. 15, 1996.   (AP Photo/Frank Wiese, File)

Updated with details on the indictment. One of the last living witnesses to the fatal drive-by shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas was charged with murder Friday in the 1996 killing, a long-awaited breakthrough in a case that has frustrated investigators and fascinated the public. A Nevada grand jury indicted Duane "Keffe D" Davis on one count of murder with a deadly weapon after hearing evidence in the case for several months, Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo announced in court Friday. Davis has long been known to investigators and has admitted in interviews and in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, that he was in the Cadillac from which gunfire erupted during the September 1996 drive-by shooting, per the AP.

DiGiacomo described Davis as the "on-ground, on-site commander" who "ordered the death" of Shakur, who was killed at 25. The charges were revealed hours after Davis, 60, was arrested this morning while on a walk near his home in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, according to DiGiacomo. Las Vegas police raided Davis' home in July. Documents said police were looking for items "concerning the murder of Tupac Shakur." Police reported collecting multiple computers, a cellphone and hard drive, a Vibe magazine that featured Shakur, several .40-caliber bullets, two "tubs containing photographs," and a copy of Davis' memoir.

"It has often been said that justice delayed is justice denied," District Attorney Steve Wolfson said after the hearing in a brief comment to AP. "In this case, justice has been delayed, but justice won't be denied." Shakur was in a BMW driven by Death Row Records founder Marion "Suge" Knight in a convoy of about 10 cars. They were waiting at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip when a white Cadillac pulled up next to them and gunfire erupted. Shakur was shot multiple times and died a week later.

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Shakur was feuding at the time with rap rival Biggie Smalls, also known as the Notorious B.I.G., who was fatally shot in March 1997. At the time, both rappers were in the middle of an East Coast-West Coast rivalry that primarily defined the hip-hop scene during the mid-1990s. Shakur's death came as his fourth solo album, All Eyez on Me, remained on the charts, with some 5 million copies sold. Nominated six times for a Grammy Award, Shakur is largely considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time.

(More Tupac Shakur stories.)

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