Rapper and actor Tupac Shakur was shot on September 7, 1993, in a drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas Strip. He passed away six days later from four sustained gunshot wounds on September 13.
For nearly 27 years, his murder went unsolved, with no arrests made. Finally, on September 23, 2023, a man named Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis was arrested and charged with a single count of murder using a deadly weapon. Davis has pleaded not guilty.
His trial begins on Monday, August 17, in Clark County, Nevada. Here’s what you need to know about Davis and his connection to Tupac Shakur.
Who Is Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis?
Davis is currently 63 years old. He was formerly a member and leader of the Los Angeles street gang South Side Compton Crips. His connection to Tupac’s murder originated from the death of fellow rap star Biggie Smalls, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles a few months after Tupac, on March 9, 1997.
Davis was questioned by the Los Angeles Police Department after Biggie’s case was reopened in the mid-2000s, since Davis had attended a party with Biggie shortly before his death. Davis told LAPD authorities in interviews conducted in 2008 and 2009 that he did not have information to share on Biggie, but that he did have information on Tupac’s murder, explaining in a proffer session (where information exchanged could not be used against him) that he was in the car that shot Tupac.
“I sang because they promised I would not be prosecuted,” Davis wrote in his book, Compton Street Legend.
However, Las Vegas police later explained that Davis’s deal with the LAPD had become null after Davis began making more public statements about Tupac’s murder in media interviews, including writing about it in his co-authored 2019 memoir Compton Street Legend.
After years of investigating Davis’s claims and connections to Tupac’s murder, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department conducted a raid on Davis’s home on July 17, 2023. They retrieved “a desktop computer, a laptop, 40 ink cartridges, a copy of the book Compton Street Legends, a copy of a Vibe magazine issue on Tupac, two tubs of photographs and other documents,” per CBS News.
Davis was subsequently arrested outside his home on September 28, 2023. He has remained in jail since his arrest.
Why Is Duane Davis Accused of Arranging Tupac’s Killing?
Over the years, Davis spoke with authorities and publicly made statements to the media regarding his connection and involvement in Tupac’s murder.
In Davis’s memoir, he explained that his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, was the one to shoot Tupac from a white Cadillac—denying he was the shooter. Davis was in the car with Anderson, along with three others. (Davis is the only person alive today from the white Cadillac.)
Davis’s claim that his nephew Anderson was the one to take shots was also corroborated during his 2008 interview with the LAPD.
More evidence came from Compton Street Legend, where he shared more details about what happened the night of Shakur’s murder.
“Tupac made an erratic move and began to reach down beneath his seat,” he wrote. “Pac pulled out a strap, and that’s when the fireworks started. One of my guys from the back seat grabbed the Glock and started bustin’ back.”
He also told BET’s Death Row Chronicles about the incident: “Going to keep it for the code of the streets. It just came from the back seat, bro.”
What Has Duane Davis Said About the Case?
In an interview from jail with FOX5 Vegas before his trial began, Davis maintained his innocence. He told the outlet, “I wasn’t in Las Vegas” on the night of Tupac’s murder. He added, “They can’t it prove also.”
Davis also alleges that he did not write his memoir that has been at the center of the investigation.
“I did not write that book. A ghostwriter wrote that,” he said, adding that the reason he released it was because “I was just trying to make my family some money.”
He also addressed his 2008 interview with the LAPD, sharing, “My lawyer gave me a script to read. He said that’s the only way you’re going home. So I read the script.”
Davis added that he plans to defend his innocence, whatever it takes.
“If I don’t win in this court, I’ll win in the next level,” he said, and shared about the possibility of testifying, “If I have to, I will.”
What Do We Know About Evidence at Duane Davis’s Trial?
Davis’s defense attorney for his August 2026 trial, Michael Sanft, attempted to have two major sources of evidence deemed inadmissible for his upcoming trial.
The first, the memoir he co-wrote titled Compton Street Legend. Sanft argued that Davis’s book was fictionalized “to make a profit, and that it was unclear which parts—if any—Davis actually wrote,” per the Associated Press.
The second was Davis’s police interviews from 2008 and 2009, with Sanft stating that they were confidential. However, Judge Carli Kierny ruled they both will be allowed to be used.
Marc DiGiacomo, chief deputy district attorney in Clark County, shared via the Associated Press, “Had he decided to never write the book, he would not, probably, have ever been prosecuted for the crime.”
E.J. Bradley is a writer who covers health, fitness and culture. She is based in New York and is a mom, runner and tea enthusiast.
