Las Vegas police have arrested a man involved in the 1996 shooting that killed Tupac Shakur, a long-overdue twist in a case that has frustrated investigators and fascinated the public since the hip-hop icon was killed on the Las Vegas Strip, 27 years ago.
Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis was arrested this morning, though the exact charge or charges were not immediately clear, according to two officials with direct knowledge of the arrest. Davis has long been known to investigators and has admitted himself in interviews and in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, that he was in the Cadillac where the shots fired during the September 1996 shooting. Shakur was 25 when he was killed. The arrest comes two months after Las Vegas police raided his wife’s home on July 17 in nearby Henderson. The documents say police were looking for evidence “concerning the murder of Tupac Shakur.”
Police reported collecting multiple computers, a cell phone and hard drive, a Vibe magazine featuring Shakur, several .40 caliber bullets, two “trays containing photographs” and a copy of Davis’ 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend.
In the book, Davis claims he broke his silence about Tupac’s murder in 2010 during a closed-door meeting with federal and local authorities. The man was 46 years old at the time and facing life in prison on drug possession charges when he agreed to speak to authorities. “They promised they would destroy the indictment and stop the grand jury if I helped them,” he wrote. He described himself as one of the last living witnesses to the shooting. Shakur was 25 when he was shot and killed near the Las Vegas Strip on the night of September 7, 1996. The rapper was riding in a BMW driven by Death Row Records founder Marion ‘Suge’ Knight in a convoy of approximately 10 cars. They were stopped at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up next to them and shots were fired. Shakur was shot multiple times and died a week later. In 2018, after a cancer diagnosis, Davis publicly admitted in an interview for a Bet show to being inside the Cadillac during the attack involving his nephew, Orlando ‘Baby Lane’ Anderson, saying he was one of two people in the back seat where the shots were fired.
The shooting occurred shortly after a fight at the casino involving Anderson, Shakur and others. Anderson denied any involvement in the shooting. He died two years later in another shooting in Compton, California. Shakur’s death came when his fourth solo album, All Eyez on Me, remained on the charts, with approximately 5 million copies sold. Nominated six times for a Grammy Award, Shakur is widely considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time. Shakur at the time was feuding with rap rival Biggie Smalls, also known as Notorious B.I.G., who was shot and killed in March 1997. At the time, both rappers were in the midst of an East Coast-West rivalry Coast that defined the hip-hop scene during the mid-90s.
Greg Kading, a retired LAPD detective who spent years investigating Shakur’s murder and wrote a book about it saying he would not have been surprised by Davis’ indictment and arrest. “He IS long overdue,” Kading told The Associated Press during a recent interview. “People have long wanted him to be arrested. In our minds the question has never remained unresolved. She was not prosecuted.”
Kading said he interviewed Davis in 2008 and 2009, during the LAPD’s investigation into the Shakur murders in Las Vegas and the killing of Biggie Smalls. Kading also said he spoke to a Las Vegas police detective about the case, including after the July SWAT raid on Henderson’s home.
The former LAPD detective said he believes the investigation has gained new momentum in recent years following Davis’ public descriptions of his role in the killing, including in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend. “It is these events that have given Las Vegas the strength to move forward,” Kading said. “Prior to Keefe D’s public statements, the cases were not prosecutable at this time.” “He put himself right in the middle of the conspiracy,” Kading said of Davis and Shakur’s killing. “He had acquired the gun, given it to the shooter and was present in the vehicle when they hunted down and located both Tupac and Suge (Knight).” Kading noted that Davis is the last living person among the four people who were in the vehicle from which shots were fired at Shakur and rapper Marion ‘Suge’ Knight. Others were Davis’ nephew Orlando ‘Baby Lane’ Anderson, Terrence ‘Bubble Up’ Brown and DeAndre ‘Freaky’ Smith. “It’s a concerted effort by conspirators,” Kading said, adding that he believed that because the killing was premeditated, Davis could have faced a first-degree murder charge. “All other direct or participating conspirators are all dead,” Kading said. “Keefe D is the last remaining man among the individuals who conspired to kill Tupac.”
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