Police arrested Duane “Keefe D” Davis for the murder of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas on the morning of Sept. 29. His arrest comes after nearly three decades of investigation by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) and the district attorney’s office.
Shakur was a rapper signed to Death Row Records. Police say a group from the label, including founder Marion “Suge” Knight, initiated a fight with members of the Los Angeles gang Compton Crips on Sept. 7, 1996. The fight occurred in the lobby of the MGM Grand Hotel prior to the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon heavyweight fight.
Following the fight, Shakur and Knight were riding together in a black BMW. As they approached a red light, a white Cadillac pulled up next to them. Police believe Davis was in the front passenger seat and his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson was behind him. A passenger fired multiple shots into the car. Knight was grazed in the head while Shakur was hit several times. He died in a Las Vegas hospital days later.
Anderson was named a suspect in the slaying of Shakur but was killed in a shootout in Compton, California in 1998. The case remained cold until the arrest of Davis, 60, the only living suspect.
“Mr. Davis’ own words reinvigorated our case in 2018,” LVMPD Sheriff Kevin McMahill said in a press conference on Friday. Davis provided admissions to his involvement in Shakur’s killing to various media outlets, and published a book in April 2019, “Compton Street Legend,” describing his connection.
Davis is being charged with murder with the use of a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang, according to the indictment.
Davis was the “leader and shot-caller” of the Compton Crips, according to Jason Johansson, homicide lieutenant at LVMPD.
Though he was not the one who shot Shakur and Knight, investigators described why they still charged him with murder. “If you provide the trigger-man with the weapon, you can be guilty of murder as an accomplice,” Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said in a conversation with reporters following the press conference.
“We have sufficient evidence to proceed now,” Wolfson said. “It was just in the last few months that I became convinced that we had sufficient evidence to file these charges.”
Wolfson said Davis’ arraignment took place on Wednesday, Oct. 4 at 8:30 a.m. PST in front of Judge Tierra Jones. The DA and LVMPD will argue for no bail.
