Tupac Shakur was riding in a BMW driven by Death Row Records boss, Marion “Surge” Knight, on Sept. 7, 1996. The two were on their way to a new Las Vegas night club when a white Cadillac pulled up beside the BMW and shot into the car, fatally wounding Shakur.
The hip-hop legend passed away from his injuries on Sept. 13, 1996, at the University Medical Center in Las Vegas.
For 27 years, no arrests have been made in relation to the Tupac case until Sept. 29, 2023, when Las Vegas authorities arrested Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 60.
Davis is not the accused shooter but is being charged as an accomplice to the crime. Authorities described him as the supposed ringleader and the one who orchestrated the killing.
“Duane Davis was the shot caller for this group of individuals that committed this crime,” stated Las Vegas police homicide Lt. Jason Johansson, “and he orchestrated the plan that was carried out.”
Davis was arrested hours before prosecutors announced in court that a Nevada grand jury had indicted him in the case on charges of murder with the use of a deadly weapon.
Authorities believe that Davis had plotted the shooting in a matter of hours, after Shakur and others had attacked Davis’ nephew earlier that same day due to gang disputes.
An old friend of Shakur, Mark Skeete, stated in an interview with Fox5 that people around the rapper knew Davis was the killer following the shooting, “The streets had the answers. The streets knew all along who did what and how it happened,” Skeete stated.
Davis being arrested was not a shock to the public familiar with the case as Davis had put himself at the crime scene starting in 1998.
In an interview with BET, he stated that he was sitting in the front seat of the Cadillac when shots were fired. Davis had also admitted a role in the shooting in a 2009 interview with police, however, his statements could not be used against them as they were made under a proffer agreement.
Davis also wrote a memoir where he detailed specific parts of the shooting. A copy of this book was seized in July during a police raid on Davis’ home. In addition to the book, several tablets, an iPhone, five computers, photographs and a magazine about Shakur were also removed from the home.
Davis had his first court appearance on Oct. 4, 2023. He was scheduled to be presented with the charge on the same day; however, the hearing was cut short after he asked the District Judge Tierra Jones to postpone the trial, so he has time to retain counsel. Jones rescheduled the arraignment for Oct. 19, 2023.
