Tupac murder was revenge for beating of gang leader's nephew, court hears 30 years after rapper's killing
Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, faces one count of murder with a deadly weapon at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas.
The murder trial of a former gang leader accused of murdering Tupac Shakur has begun, 30 years after the rapper’s shooting.
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US rapper Tupac Shakur died a week after being hit in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on September 13th, 1996.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the former leader of the South Side Compton Crips street gang, faces one count of murder with a deadly weapon.
Despite being a cold case for over thirty years, police now have enough evidence to charge Duane “Keffe D” Davis after he spoke publicly about the 1996 shooting in interviews, a book and podcasts, after previously speaking privately to police.
The trial of the 63-year-old begins on Monday at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas. He has pleaded not guilty.
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The prosecution claim that Davis carried out the murder in response to an attack on his nephew, Orlando Anderson, which they believed could not “go unanswered”.
Police claim that the defendant orchestrated the shooting after his nephew was involved in an altercation with Shakur in a Las Vegas casino.
They allege that he was the "on-ground, on-site commander" who "ordered the death" of Shakur.
Davis was arrested near his home in Las Vegas in September 2023. He denies the charges, and his defence claims that there is no evidence that he planned the murder.
The prosecution, Binu Palal, has claimed that the defendant’s nephew was attacked in LA following the Mike Tyson fight.
He argued that Davis believed the attack on his nephew could not “go unanswered”.
Palal said Tupac came to LA to attend a Mike Tyson fight, following which he came across Orlando Anderson - Davis’s nephew.
He claimed that the incident triggered an attack, which was caught on video.
Witnesses were called to the stand, with one telling the court “all hell broke loose” at the shooting.
Ingrid Stokes, who was present at the time of the shooting, was in Las Vegas with friends on September 7th 1996. She told the court that she had planned to go to the Mike Tyson fight but missed it.
She said that her friends began driving around Las Vegas when they ran into Marion 'Suge' Knight and Tupac "in the car".
Stokes’ friend knew Marion 'Suge' Knight, and Suge told the women to follow them to a club, she said.
They began driving through the city, but said: “There was a car behind us, trying to get in front of us.”
She said at one point they stopped at a light and pulled over to switch drivers due to concerns about the other vehicle.
“We were head down, taking our seat belts off, when we heard the gunshots. All hell broke loose,” she told the court.