Tupac Shakur
Decade-long investigation into the 1996 murder, helped by the gang leader who admitted being in the shooter’s car and providing the gun
Sat 30 September 2023 12.00 BST
For nearly 30 years, the murder of Tupac Shakur remained one of the music industry’s most enduring unsolved crimes. His 1996 murder near the Las Vegas Strip sparked countless reports, books and documentaries trying to figure out who exactly was responsible for the hip-hop legend’s death.
But on Friday, authorities in Nevada announced that they had finally made an arrest in the case. Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a former gang leader and one of the last surviving witnesses to the crime, was charged with murder for allegedly orchestrating the drive-by shooting.
Prosecutors allege that Davis admitted to serving as a “field commander in the killing of Tupac” after the rapper became involved in a dispute with his longtime nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, a suspect in the murder.
“It has often been said that justice delayed is justice denied,” Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson told the Associated Press. “In this case, justice has been delayed, but justice will not be denied.”
Officials said the development was made possible in part by Davis himself, who described his involvement in the drive-by shooting in his 2019 memoir.
Tupac Shakur and Death Row Records president Marion “Suge” Knight at an event in Los Angeles on August 15, 1996. Photo: Frank Wiese/AP
The murder of Tupac Shakur, the legendary and beloved artist who sold more than 75 million records, sparked widespread public interest and fascination that lasted for decades. Questions and conspiracy theories have long swirled around the case, as have criticism that Las Vegas police botched the investigation.
Shakur was shot dead on September 7, 1996, just off the Las Vegas Strip while on his way to an afterparty with Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight. Earlier that evening, the rapper had attended a Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand Hotel and was subsequently involved in a physical altercation with Anderson and several others, during which Shakur attacked Anderson over a previous conflict.
The intersection where Tupac Shakur and Marion “Suge” Knight were shot on September 8, 1996 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Jack Dempsey/AP
Later that evening, Shakur and Knight rode in a BMW heading to a party in a convoy of about ten cars. As they waited at a red light, a white Cadillac pulled up next to them and fired eight shots. Shakur, who had been leaning out the window of a nearby car to flirt with women, was hit four times and died less than a week later at the age of 25.
The rapper died while arguing with rival Biggie Smalls, fueling speculation about the role in the East Coast-West Coast rivalry. However, the case remained unsolved because the police failed to follow up on crucial clues – and ruled out Anderson as a suspect despite a tip from the Los Angeles Police Department that he was the shooter. Anderson was shot in a separate incident in 1998.
Rapper Yaki Kadafi, who was sitting in the car directly behind Shakur at the time of the shooting, told police immediately afterward that he saw the attackers driving a white Cadillac and could identify the killer. Las Vegas police did not follow up on the tip, and Gadafi was fatally shot in an unrelated incident months later.
Davis had long been known to investigators and those who recorded the case. Greg Kading, a retired Los Angeles detective who spent years investigating Shakur’s murder and wrote a book on the subject, said he interviewed Davis in 2008 and 2009 while Los Angeles police were investigating the murders of Shakur and Christopher Wallace , known as Biggie Smalls. He identified Davis as the primary suspect in Shakur’s murder at that time.
But it was Davis’ decision in recent years to speak publicly about his ties to the shootings and to publish and promote a tell-all memoir that revitalized the case and paved the way for his arrest, authorities said.
He revealed his “involvement in this crime” on television, Clark County Prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo said, apparently referring to a 2018 BET documentary in which Davis said he knew the identity of Shakur’s killer.
Part of a mural by artist sloe_motions featuring Tupac Shakur in Bellflower, California. Photo: Chris Pizzello/AP
“I was a Compton boss and drug dealer. “I’m the only one in the world who can really tell you the story of the Tupac murder,” he said at the time.
DiGiacomo argued that Davis’ 2019 autobiography, “Compton Street Legend,” supported the charges, pointing out that he referred to himself as “the gunman” of the South Side Compton Crips gang and quoted part of his book, in to which he said, “If we were an army,” I was a five-star general.” The district attorney also noted that in his book, Davis described sitting in the front seat of the car that drove past Shakur.
Prosecutors alleged that Davis, the last person alive among the four people in the Cadillac, was seeking retribution for the beating of his nephew Anderson. They said he was looking for a gun to “hunt” Shakur on the night of Sept. 7, 1996.
In the book, Davis described his anger when he learned that the death row crew had attacked his nephew. “We couldn’t let the studio gangsters at a record company do this to us. Had they lost their minds to rap? …Suge and his boys committed the ultimate disrespect when they kicked and knocked down my nephew, Baby Lane, in a video that went around the world!” He said he planned to “confront Suge” and ask : “Why the hell are you all jumping on my nephew?”
Knight found Shakur, along with Anderson, Terrence “Bubble Up” Brown and DeAndre “Freaky” Smith, right on the strip around 11:15 p.m.
Davis described the moments before he and the passengers in his car, which included his nephew Orlando Anderson, happened to drive past Shakur’s car: “I pulled out the Glock that Zip had given me and threw it in the back seat. Bubble Up was driving, Baby Lane and Freaky were in the back.” He said that Shakur noticed them and “made an erratic movement and started reaching under his seat” and that the “fireworks” started at that moment and “so fast happened.”
Prosecutors charged Duane “Keffe D” Davis with murder for allegedly leading a group of men to kill Tupac Shakur. Photo: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department/Portal
“Moral of the story: Real gangsters are nothing to mess with! … Their attacking my nephew gave us the ultimate green light to do something with their ass,” he wrote, but added: “At this point in my life, I can say that I have deep remorse for what Tupac has happened.” . He was a talented artist with great potential to impact the world. “I hate that Tupac’s family, friends and fans, especially his mother Afeni Shakur, had to endure the pain of losing their son.”
The district attorney claimed that his book narrative supports the claim that Davis was the “commander on scene in the attempt to kill Shakur and Suge Knight” and that he “acquired the firearm.” The prosecutor noted that Davis promoted the book at least eight times, repeating similar narratives.
In July, Las Vegas police searched the home of Davis’ wife, Paula Clemons, looking for items “related to the murder of Tupac Shakur.” They reported collecting computers, a cell phone and hard drive, a Vibe magazine that featured Shakur, several .40-caliber bullets, two “tubs of photos” and a copy of Compton Street Legend.
On Friday morning, police arrested Davis as he walked near his home in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson.
Joel Anderson, a journalist who chronicled the Shakur and Wallace murders on the Slow Burn podcast, said about the arrest: “For years, the man told everyone publicly and without remorse what happened that night in Las Vegas. And today he is faced with something that would seemingly never happen: consequences.”
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