UPDATE: Nearly 30 years after the death of Tupac Shakur, a suspect has been charged in connection with his murder.
On Sept. 29, a Clark County grand jury indicted Duane Keith "Keefe D" Davis on one count of murder with use of a deadly weapon and with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in connection with the 1996 killing of the famed rapper in Las Vegas, a prosecutor said in court. The 60-year-old had been arrested by Las Vegas Police earlier that day.
Shakur was riding in a BMW driven by Marion "Suge" Knight in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996, and had been stopped a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up next to them on the passenger side. An occupant opened fire at the "All Eyez on Me" rapper and the Death Row records CEO. Shakur was shot four times and died days later of his wounds. He was 25.
"After Davis obtained a gun, he entered into a white Cadillac, along with Terrence Brown, DeAndre Smith and Orlando Anderson," Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Jason Johansson told reporters at a press conference Sept. 29. "At some point in time, as they were in the white Cadillac, Davis took the gun that he had obtained and provided it to the passengers in the rear of the vehicle."
Johansson said the Cadillac then pulled up near the passenger side of Suge's car and "immediately began shooting at Mr. Knight and Mr. Shakur."
As seen in a video posted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, chief deputy district attorney Marc DiGiacomo spoke in court how Davis himself had said in his 2019 memoir Compton Street Legend that he was a "shot caller" for a gang and also "admitted within that book that he did acquire the firearm with the intent to go hunt down" Tupac and Suge. Davis had also said in his memoir and in press interviews that he was in the passenger seat of the Cadillac that pulled up near the vehicle carrying Suge and Tupac on the night of the shooting.
"Since 2019 he's appeared at least eight separate times in promotion of this book and repeated various versions of these events, all of which he acknowledges that he is in fact the person that ordered the death of Mr. Shakur and the attempted murder of Mr. Knight," DiGiacomo said. "And so at this point in time, the proof is evident, the presumption is great that he is responsible for the murder of Tupac Shakur."
Davis' indictment comes two months after police executed a search warrant of his home in Nevada, according to documents obtained by NBC News.
Davis' is the last known survivor among the four men believed to have been inside the Cadillac at the time of Tupac's murder. Anderson, Davis' nephew, had long been suspected of pulling the trigger in the attack. He was killed in a gang shooting in Los Angeles in 1998. Brown was shot dead in the city in 2015, per Rolling Stone, and Smith died of natural causes in 2004, The Guardian reported.
Referring to another famed rapper, Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace, who was murdered in a separate drive-by shooting in L.A. six months after Shakur, Davis noted in his book, "I was considered a prime suspect in both the Biggie [Smalls] and Tupac killings for years. I know the real f--king story."
In the years since Tupac's death, the music world has continued to mourn the loss of the Grammy winner. Back in June, he was even honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
"Tupac Shakur was a rapper, actor, activist, poet, and revolutionary," Ana Martinez, producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, said in a June statement. "This iconic artist has continued to be part of the zeitgeist for decades after his passing and will continue to be an important cultural figure for many years to come."
Martinez added, "Surely, as one of L.A.'s own, Tupac's star will be added to the list of most visited stars."
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