Vegas Cops Reportedly Arrest Suspect in Tupac Shakur’s 1996 Murder

A man who has long claimed to be one of the last people to see Tupac Shakur alive has been arrested and charged with killing the rapper in a 1996 drive-by shooting that was allegedly driven by “revenge,” prosecutors said on Friday.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 60, was indicted by a Clark County, Nevada grand jury on a charge of murder with the use of a deadly weapon. His arrest in Las Vegas was first reported by the Associated Press.

During a Friday court hearing, Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo said Davis was arrested early that morning outside his house after a grand jury had been seated for months in the Shakur case. He said that Davis formulated the plan to “exact revenge” on Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight after a fight that involved his nephew, Orlando Anderson, at the MGM hotel.

Davis was the “on-ground on-sight commander of the effort to kill Mr. Tupac Shakur and Suge,” DiGiacomo said in court.

Tupac Shakur and Marion ‘Suge’ Knight

Jeff Kravitz/Getty

DiGiacomo alleged that, to carry out his plan, Davis acquired a .45 caliber Glock from an associate then went with several other people, in two cars, to Club 662, where Shakur was set to perform a concert later that evening.

When Shakur and Knight did not immediately show, Davis allegedly left, went to a local liquor store, and switched cars to join some others in a white Cadillac.

DiGiacomo alleged that Davis sat in the passenger seat and slipped the gun to one of the individuals in the backseat. In his memoir, Davis said that Anderson, a known rival of Shakur, was also in the backseat.

While driving around, DiGiacomo said in court, Davis’ car happened to see “the caravan that included Mr. Knight and Mr. Shakur.” Davis’ car then allegedly pulled up next to Shakur and Knight’s BMW at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip, and the “rear passenger fired a number of rounds from that vehicle,” DiGiacomo said. The shots hit Shakur several times, and hit Knight in the head.

Davis has long been linked to Shakur’s death—and even admitted in interviews and in his 2019 memoir that he was in the other car during the shooting.

In the memoir, Compton Street Legend, Davis said he told authorities in 2010 that he witnessed the murder. At the time, Davis was facing drug charges. “They promised they would shred the indictment and stop the grand jury if I helped them out,” he wrote in the book, according to the AP.

DiGiacomo also noted in court on Friday that Davis had publicly spoken of his role in Shakur’s death at least eight times in 2019 to promote his book. In various versions of the story, Davis “acknowledges that he is, in fact, the person that ordered the death of Mr. Shakur and the attempted murder of Mr. Knight,” DiGiacomo said.

In July, authorities executed a search warrant at the Henderson home of Davis’ wife in connection with the Shakur case. The search warrant, obtained by CNN, names Davis and says police were looking for electronics, photographs, letters, and other documents. CNN reported that police ultimately took computers, marijuana, a copy of Vibe magazine that featured Shakur, and a copy of Davis’ memoir.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was expected to hold a press conference on Friday afternoon to provide further details about the long-running case.