LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A new murder indictment has been handed down by a Nevada grand jury on Friday morning in the 1996 drive-by shooting of Tupac Shakur.
Duane "Keefe D" Davis, 60, is facing murder charges related to the rapper's death and was arrested by Metro police officers outside of his Henderson home, which was raided earlier this year. Davis' arrest marks a breakthrough in the case, which has frustrated both federal and local investigators for nearly three decades.
Clark County District Judge Jerry Wiese denied Davis bail.
During a press conference on Friday, LVMPD Sheriff Kevin McMahill said the investigation was led by a collaborative effort between retired Metro officers and active detectives in the Homicide Section.
Sheriff McMahill and other Metro officers credited the release of Davis' 2019 tell-all memoir, "Compton Street Legend," with "reinvigorating" the case.
Alongside his memoir, Davis has long been known to investigators and has himself admitted in interviews that he was in the Cadillac from which the gunfire erupted during the September 1996 drive-by shooting.
In his memoir, Davis said he was in the front passenger seat of the Cadillac and had slipped the gun used in the killing into the backseat, from where he said the shots were fired. Davis implicated his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, saying he was one of two people in the backseat.
Anderson, a known rival of Shakur, had been involved in a casino brawl with the rapper shortly before the shooting. Surveillance footage played during Friday's conference showed Shakur, Knight, and several others kicking and punching Anderson inside the MGM Grand before hotel security broke them up and escorted them out of the building.
Lt. Johansson says the fight led to Davis planning a "retaliatory shooting" against Tupac, Knight, and others seen beating Anderson.
Investigators determined that Davis was the one who passed the gun to Anderson as they approached a vehicle transporting Tupac, Knight, and others to a post-fight after-party.
Shakur was in a BMW driven by Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight 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 at the age of 25.
Las Vegas police raided a home in mid-July in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson that is tied to Davis.
Police were looking for items “concerning the murder of Tupac Shakur,” according to the search warrant. They collected multiple computers, a cellphone, and a hard drive, a Vibe magazine that featured Shakur, several .40-caliber bullets, two “tubs containing photographs,” and a copy of Davis’ memoir.
“It has often been said that justice delayed is justice denied,” District Attorney Steve Wolfson said during the press conference. “In this case, justice has been delayed, but justice won’t be denied.”
