Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a self-proclaimed witness and participant in the 1996 shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur, was indicted by a Nevada Grand Jury on Friday.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo said a grand jury had been seated in the case for “several months.” DiGiacomo described Davis as the “on-ground, on-site commander” who “ordered the death” of Shakur. He was charged with murder with use of a deadly weapon Friday in the 1996 killing. The mystery of who killed the famous rapper has frustrated investigators and fascinated the public ever since he was murdered 27 years ago.
Shakur was 25 when he was gunned down in a drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip on the night of Sept. 7, 1996. The rapper, accompanied by Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight, was in a convoy of about 10 cars. They were waiting at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up next to them and gunfire erupted. Shakur was shot multiple times and died a week later.
Davis published a memoir in 2019, “Compton Street Legend,” that detailed his alleged role in the crime.
A member of the Crips gang, Davis claimed that he was in the car that fired at Shakur when they were leaving a boxing match on the Las Vegas Strip. Davis said that the shooting was motivated by revenge after Shakur and Knight assaulted his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, another Crip, at the MGM Grand hotel.
The arrest comes two months after Las Vegas police raided his wife’s home on July 17 in the neighboring town of Henderson. Documents said police were looking for items “concerning the murder of Tupac Shakur.”
Police reported collecting multiple computers, a cell phone and hard drive, a Vibe magazine that featured Shakur, several .40-caliber bullets, two “tubs containing photographs” and a copy of Davis’ 2019 tell-all memoir.
In the book, Davis said he broke his silence over Tupac’s killing in 2010 during a closed-door meeting with federal and local authorities. At the time, he was 46 and facing life in prison on drug charges when he agreed to speak with the authorities.
“They promised they would shred the indictment and stop the grand jury if I helped them out,” he wrote.
In 2018, after being diagnosed with cancer, Davis admitted publicly in an interview for a BET show to being inside the Cadillac during the attack. He implicated his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, saying he was one of two people in the back seat where the shots were fired.
A police press conference is slated for 3:30 p.m. ET Friday.
