Suspect arrested in 1996 Tupac Shakur shooting death

A grand jury has indicted Duane Keith “Keffe D” Davis on charges of murder with use of a deadly weapon in connection with the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, Las Vegas authorities announced. Davis, 60, was arrested Friday morning in Las Vegas, according to authorities. His wife’s Henderson home was searched in July as part of the ongoing investigation into the shooting. Shakur was shot and killed while leaving a boxing match on the Las Vegas Strip. His untimely death – the rapper was just 25 – has been the subject of conspiracy theories and a decadeslong investigation. At a Friday news conference, authorities painted Davis as the ringmaster of a plot to kill Shakur as retaliation after an attack on his nephew. Davis has long placed himself at the scene of the crime, saying he was in the front seat of the white Cadillac that came up beside Shakur’s car when shots rang out from the back seat, killing the musician. The rapper was shot four times and died six days later. “For 27 years, the family of Tupac Shakur has been waiting for justice,” said Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill at the news conference.Suspect arrested in 1996 Tupac Shakur shooting death“The investigation started on the night of September 7th, 1996,” McMahill said. “It is far from over. It has taken countless hours, really decades, of work by the men and women of our homicide section to get to where we are today.” Jason Johansson, the police department’s homicide lieutenant, said the murder was a “retaliatory” attack after a conflict between two gangs based in Compton, California. Shakur and Marion “Suge” Knight, the former CEO of Death Row Records, were affiliated with the Mob Piru gang in Compton, while Davis was affiliated with the Southside Compton Crips, according to Johansson.

Suspect arrested in 1996 Tupac Shakur shooting death.

Shakur was in Las Vegas to see Mike Tyson box at the MGM Grand Hotel. Members of the Southside Compton Crips, including Davis and his nephew Orlando Anderson, also attended the event. “As both groups were leaving the fight, members of Death Row Records spotted Orlando Anderson near an elevator bank inside the MGM and at that time they began to kick and punch him near that elevator bank,” said Johansson, showing hotel surveillance footage of the fight. Shakur and Knight were visible among the men who attacked Anderson. “Little did anyone know that it is this incident right here that would ultimately lead to the retaliatory shooting and death of Tupac Shakur,” he said. [caption id="attachment_108725" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Both groups left the hotel, with Shakur and his crew headed to a post-fight after-party at a local nightclub. “Duane Davis was the shot-caller for this group of individuals that committed this crime. Davis’ own admissions regarding the crime were a crucial piece of the investigation, he said.
When police searched Davis’ wife’s home in July, they seized a copy of the memoir Davis authored detailing street gang life and the murder of Shakur. “It just came from the back seat, bro.”
However, Davis “had a proffer agreement, so we couldn’t utilize that information that he was providing against him,” Kading said.
Tupac’s stepbrother, Mopreme Shakur, who is also a rapper, said news of Davis’ arrest is “bittersweet.”
“We have been through decades of pain. They have known about this guy, who been running his mouth, for years,” he said.
“So why now?” he said. “For us, this is not over. We want to know why, and if there were any accomplices.”[/caption]

Trailblazing rapper struck down in his prime

Shakur’s career was short but hugely influential and the musician has left an outsize legacy in music, style and culture. Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, 1971, in Harlem, New York. The family soon moved again to Marin City, California. Despite moving around quite a bit in his youth, Shakur considered nearby Oakland his home. The rapper released 11 platinum albums: four during his five-year career and seven others released posthumously. His first album, “2Pacalypse Now” debuted in November 1991. He was also a poet and featured in films like “Poetic Justice” and “Above the Rim.”