Nearly three decades after Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas, the only person ever charged in connection with the hip-hop icon’s killing is heading to trial.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, is expected to stand trial beginning Monday on a murder charge tied to the 1996 drive-by shooting that killed Shakur, one of the most influential figures in rap history.
Davis has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors have not alleged that he pulled the trigger, but they say he helped orchestrate the attack and supplied the gun used in the shooting.
Shakur was shot on Sept. 7, 1996, while riding in a BMW driven by Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight near the Las Vegas Strip. The rapper died six days later. He was 25.
LAWYERS FOR SUSPECTED TUPAC SHAKUR KILLER CLAIM HIS WORDS WERE TWISTED, WANT HIM RELEASED FROM JAIL
Tupac was born in New York and grew up in Baltimore and Oakland before embracing Los Angeles as his home. (Raymond Boyd)
Earlier on the night of the shooting, Shakur, Knight and others were involved in a fight at the MGM Grand with Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, Davis’ nephew and a member of the South Side Compton Crips.
According to prosecutors, Davis, Anderson, Deandrae “Freaky” Smith and Terry “Bubble Up” Brown were later in a white Cadillac that pulled up alongside Shakur’s vehicle before gunfire erupted.
Davis is the only one of the four still alive.
Tupac Shakur and his East Coast rival, Biggie, were killed six months apart. (Getty Images)
Authorities long suspected Anderson was the gunman, although evidence presented in the case has also raised the possibility that Smith fired the shots.
No murder weapon was recovered.
According to the Associated Press, prosecutors hope to prove that Davis called the shots in and provided the gun used in the crime. Gunfire came from the Cadillac that Davis was in, and he’s one of the only people there that night who is still alive.
Davis has acknowledged being in the Cadillac and discussed the killing in interviews and in his 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend.” Prosecutors say those statements help establish his role in the attack.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis enters a courtroom in Clark County District Court for a trial readiness status check at the Regional Justice Center on June 17, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Steve Marcus-Pool/Getty Images)
His attorneys, meanwhile, have argued that some of Davis’ public statements were exaggerated and have challenged whether statements he made during a 2008 police interview could be used against him.
A Nevada judge ruled that Davis’ police interview, as well as portions of his memoir, will be allowed during the trial.
Tupac Shakur was killed in a 1996 shooting in Las Vegas. (Associated Press)
The trial is expected to last about four weeks. In November, Davis’ attorneys unsuccessfully sought to dismiss the charges.
“Think of it this way: Shakur’s murder was essentially the entertainment world’s JFK assassination — endlessly dissected, mythologized, monetized — so it’s not hard to see why someone in Davis’s position might falsely place himself at the center of it all for personal gain,” his attorneys said in a petition to the Nevada Supreme Court that was denied.
Shakur’s legendary rap career was highlighted by more than 75 million records worldwide with hits including “California Love,” “Changes” and “Dear Mama.”
News Outlet has reached out to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for comment.
