Man charged in Tupac Shakur murder to stand trial
Duane "Keffe D" Davis will face a first-degree murder trial for the 1996 drive-by shooting that killed rapper Tupac Shakur, with prosecutors alleging he organized the attack.
A Nevada judge has set a trial date for Duane Keith Davis, known as “Keffe D,” who is the only person ever charged in the 1996 killing of hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur. Prosecutors say Davis planned the drive-by shooting outside the MGM Grand in Las Vegas after a confrontation between Shakur’s entourage and Davis’s nephew, Orlando Anderson, but they do not allege he fired the weapon. Davis has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder with a deadly weapon and intent to further a criminal gang.
The case is tied to the historic rivalry between Los Angeles gangs the Bloods and the Crips, which law enforcement believes contributed to the violence. Key figures include former Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight, who was also wounded in the attack, and several alleged co-conspirators who have since died. Knight, who is currently incarcerated for unrelated crimes, has indicated he will not testify.
Davis’s 2019 memoir claims he was approached by Sean “Diddy” Combs for a bounty related to the incident, a allegation Combs has denied. Davis has also provided statements to investigators under a 2009 proffer agreement, which detectives say corroborate much of his account, though he now asserts he was not in Nevada at the time of the shooting and that his book was written for profit.
The trial will examine evidence from the night of the MGM Grand fight, including testimony from former gang members and law-enforcement officials, and may address broader theories linking Shakur’s death to the later murder of Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G.