The trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the former street gang leader accused of orchestrating the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, begins Monday in Las Vegas, nearly three decades after the hip-hop star was shot.Davis, 63, faces one count of murder with a deadly weapon in Clark County, Nevada, according to Reuters.He has pleaded not guilty.Prosecutors accuse Davis of organising the attack after a fight involving his nephew and Shakur’s group at the MGM Grand casino on September 7, 1996.
How Tupac was killed
Shakur was travelling in a BMW with Marion “Suge” Knight, co-founder of Death Row Records, when a white Cadillac pulled alongside their vehicle near the Las Vegas Strip.Prosecutors allege Davis was in the Cadillac with three other men and had obtained the gun used in the shooting.Shakur was struck four times. He died in hospital six days later at the age of 25.Knight was also injured when a bullet fragment grazed his head.Investigators have never publicly established who fired the shots. The three other men who were in the Cadillac with Davis have since died.
Why Davis was charged years later
The investigation remained unresolved for decades before police focused again on Davis following statements he made publicly about the shooting.Authorities said Davis had discussed his role in interviews and in his 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend.”According to police, Davis said he was sitting in the front passenger seat of the Cadillac and passed the gun to one of the two men sitting behind him.Under Nevada law, prosecutors do not need to prove that Davis personally fired the weapon to secure a murder conviction. They must establish that he participated in the killing.
Gang rivalry at centre of case
The shooting followed a confrontation involving the South Side Compton Crips, which Davis has described himself as leading, and the Mob Piru group associated by police with Knight and Death Row Records.The groups were in Las Vegas for a heavyweight boxing match between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon when the fight at the MGM Grand took place.Authorities allege the shooting was carried out as retaliation for the earlier confrontation.The case became closely tied to the wider East Coast-West Coast rivalry that dominated hip-hop during the 1990s. Shakur’s death intensified the violence and tension surrounding the rap scene at the time.Knight could potentially testify during the trial. He was with Shakur when the shooting happened and is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence for an unrelated voluntary manslaughter conviction.Shakur’s killing remains one of the most closely watched unsolved crimes in music history. His death was followed six months later by the killing of fellow rapper Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G., in Los Angeles. That case remains unsolved.