Tupac Shakur’s 1996 shooting death has long been an unsolved mystery, but AP reports that a man tied to his shooting was arrested in Las Vegas on Friday.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis was taken into custody early Friday morning. A Nevada grand jury later indicted Davis on one count of murder with a deadly weapon, according to Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo.
DiGiacomo described Davis as the person who “ordered the death” of the hip-hip icon, who was 25 when he was gunned down.
Davis has previously admitted in interviews and in his 2019 tell-all memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” that he was in the Cadillac that pulled up alongside Suge Knight’s car during the fatal drive-by shooting that took Shakur’s life.
The arrest came after Las Vegas police raided Davis’ wife’s home on July 17 in Henderson, Nevada. The search warrant specified police were searching for items “concerning the murder of Tupac Shakur.”
According to the AP, police confiscated several computers, a cell phone and hard drive in their July raid. They also also found an issue of Vibe magazine that featured Shakur, several .40-caliber bullets, photographs and a copy of Davis’ memoir.
Shakur, who also used the stage name 2Pac, was in Vegas on the night of Sept. 7, 1996, to celebrate his business partner Tracy Danielle Robinson’s birthday. He also attended a Mike Tyson boxing match with Death Row Records founder Knight at the MGM Grand.
Around 11:15 p.m. that night, a white late-model Cadillac sedan pulled up to the passenger side of Knight’s BMW on the Las Vegas Strip and repeatedly fired, striking Shakur four times. Bullets hit his arm, thigh and he was hit twice in the chest, with one bullet entering his right lung.
Shakur was taken to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, where he died from internal bleeding six days later.
In addition to being one of the most successful rappers of all time, Shakur also acted in a number of films, including John Singleton’s “Poetic Justice” and Ernest Dickerson’s “Juice.”
In June, Shakur received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This year, he was also the subject of Allen Hughes’ docuseries “Dear Mama,” which debuted on FX in April. It became the most-watched unscripted premiere in the network’s history. “Dear Mama” is now streaming on Hulu.
