Marion “Suge” Knight has insisted he will not testify against Tupac’s murder suspect, despite being with the rapper when he was killed.
Duane “Keefe D” Davis, 60, was arrested by Las Vegas detectives last week and charged with murder with the use of a deadly weapon.
Knight, the 58-year-old co-founder of Death Row Records, told TMZ that he believes police arrested the wrong man for Tupac’s murder and said he will not take the stand in court.
He was injured in the shooting in 1996 and although he was the only living witness, he said, “I would 1000% not go. ‘I wouldn’t testify to any of it.’
Knight is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence for a hit-and-run accident in 2015.
After the news last week, Assistant District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo described Davis as the “commander on the scene” who “ordered the death” of Shakur. Davis was denied bail by Clark County District Judge Jerry Wiese.
Shakur was 25 years old when he was shot four times in the chest in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996. He died on September 13th.
Pictured: Tupac Shakur and Marion Suge Knight. Knight, the 58-year-old co-founder of Death Row Records, said he believes police arrested the wrong man for Tupac’s murder and said he would not take the stand in court
Duane “Keefe D” Davis was arrested by Las Vegas detectives Friday morning and charged with murder with the use of a deadly weapon
American rapper and actor Tupac Shakur was killed in a shooting that has been unsolved for 27 years
Shakur was in a BMW driven by Knight in a convoy of about 10 cars.
They were waiting at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up next to them and shots were fired.
According to police, Davis began “devising a plan” to kill Shakur and Marion “Suge” Knight after they attacked his nephew at a Mike Tyson boxing match.
They added that the rapper and his manager were with members of the Mob Piru gang and knew from the beginning that the shooting was a “gang” investigation.
Davis is the only one of the three suspects in the car that night who is still alive
A grand jury in Nevada indicted Davis on the murder charge after he served “several months” in prison. Davis was arrested last week while walking near his home.
He has spoken openly about being at the scene of the drive-by shooting 27 years ago and admitted to giving the murder weapon to another gang member. Davis is the only person in the car that night who is still alive.
Last week, Mopreme Shakur, Tupac’s stepbrother, called Davis’ arrest “bittersweet” 27 years after the rapper’s death.
“We’ve been through decades of pain,” he told CNN. “They knew about this guy running his mouth for years.”
“So why now? For us, it’s not over yet. “We want to know why and whether there were accomplices.”
During a news conference Friday, Homicide Lt. Jason Johansson called Davis a “ringleader and instigator.”
He admitted that in the “first few months” of the investigation, police officers were aware of many of the facts of the case, but they redoubled their efforts in 2018.
Johansson said that police “knew that this was probably the last time we would be involved in this case in order to successfully solve the case and file criminal charges” after Davis “admitted his involvement” in the murder.
Police believe Davis received the gun he used from a “close associate” but declined to provide further details, saying they would emerge during the trial.
Sheriff Kevin McMahill added that the case was “far from over” and said they were working to build a “successful prosecution”.
District Attorney Steve Wolfson said, “It has often been said that justice delayed is justice denied. “In this case, justice has been delayed, but justice is not denied.”
Davis wrote in his 2019 memoir “Compton Street Legend” that he was in the Cadillac involved in the shooting.
In the book, he said he told authorities about his involvement in the murder in a closed meeting with federal and local authorities in 2010.
“They promised that if I helped them, they would destroy the indictment and stop the grand jury,” he wrote.
He was 46 at the time and facing life in prison on drug charges when he agreed to talk to authorities.
The arrest comes two months after Las Vegas police officers raided Davis’ wife’s home on July 17, looking for items “related to the murder of Tupac Shakur.”
Homicide Lt. Jason Johansson called Davis a “ringleader and instigator” during a news conference.
Authorities seized several computers, a cell phone and hard drive, as well as a Vibe magazine featuring Shakur from the property.
They also took several .40-caliber bullets, two “boxes of photos” and a copy of Davis’ memoirs.
Shakur’s death came as his fourth solo album, “All Eyez on Me,” remained on the charts with around 5 million copies sold.
Shakur has been nominated for a Grammy Award six times and is widely considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time.
At the time, he was feuding with rap rival Biggie Smalls, also known as “Notorious BIG,” 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 characterized the hip-hop scene in the mid-1990s.
Shakur accused Biggie and Sean “Diddy” Combs of being behind another shooting in 1994.
He was shot and seriously injured in a hotel lobby but survived the attack and accused both rappers of being connected to the attack.