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Shocking Breakthrough in Tupac Shakur Murder Case
Duane Keith Davis has been charged with murder for allegedly shooting Tupac Shakur in 1996 during a drive-by in Las Vegas. According to Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, Davis was charged with murder in an open homicide case involving the use of deadly weapons with the intent to promote a criminal gang by the Clark County Grand Jury on Thursday. Suspicion is expected to be presented in court in the coming days.
The well-known hip-hop musician was shot on September 7, 1996, in Las Vegas, and he passed away from his wounds six days later, at the age of 25.
Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department stated during a press conference on Friday, “Tupac Shakur’s family has been seeking justice for 27 years.” He mentioned that investigators had spent “countless hours” on the homicide investigation.
After news of the arrest of Tupac’s alleged shooter, Sekyiwa ‘Set’ Shakur, Tupac’s sister and the Chairwoman of The Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, released a statement on Instagram on Friday, describing it as a “momentous occasion.”
“In our community, the 27-year quiet surrounding this case has been deafening. It’s important to me that the world, the nation, the criminal justice system, and our people accept the seriousness of the loss of this man, my brother, my mother’s child,” she wrote.
She went on to say that the family of her brother is striving for justice. “His life and death have meaning, and neither their resolution nor acknowledgement should be avoided. So, yes, this is a triumph, but I’ll hold off on making a definitive determination until all the information is known and the legal process is complete. There are still many details that need to be made public regarding my brother Tupac’s life and death as well as the Tupac Shakur family. On all fronts, we demand genuine justice,” she concluded.
According to police, Davis claims to have been present during the fatal drive-by shooting in Las Vegas and was one of two surviving witnesses from the former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight’s car when the rapper was killed.
Reportedly, a dispute that was escalating into a “retaliatory shootout” between rival gangs, Mob Piru and South Side Compton Crips, just hours before the fatal drive-by shooting, turned into a deadly encounter, resulting in Tupac’s death, according to Lieutenant Jason Johansson.
Tupac, Knight, and members of the Mob Piru and South Side Compton Crips were involved in a brawl at the MGM Grand during a Mike Tyson fight, in which Anderson and his nephew Orlando Anderson were also present. A confrontation erupted near a hotel elevator captured on hotel security footage, during which Anderson kicked and punched Anderson.
Johansson claimed that “Duane Davis planned to engage in a retaliatory action with Suge Knight against Suge Knight and Anderson, like what happened in the black BMW.”
Johansson mentioned that investigators knew that non-resident victims and suspects were involved in this incident, but they didn’t have enough evidence to charge them with criminal offenses.
This case remained cold for decades until new information emerged in 2018, specifically Duane Davis’s self-admission, which he provided to various media outlets, Johansson said.
Police conducted a search of Davis’s Las Vegas-area home in July as part of their investigation into Tupac’s murder.
A senior law enforcement official told ABC News that Davis was taken into custody on Friday morning without incident when he was walking near his home, where a search was conducted.
Items seized during the search of Anderson’s home included a copy of Vibe magazine with “a Vibe magazine article about Tupac Shakur’s murder” listed in the search warrant. Nearly 13 hours of body camera footage from the search was released in response to a public records.
The video is edited — going black and silent when SWAT team members are inside private property, but otherwise showing the raid — and Davis, who goes by the name “Keefe D” or “Keffe D,” is seen talking to police outside his home.