Man Arrested, Charged with Murder in 1996 Shooting Death of Rapper Tupac Shakur

A Las Vegas man was indicted and arrested on murder charges in connection with the 1996 shooting death of rapper Tupac Shakur.

Duane “Keefe D” Davis was arrested on Friday and charged with murder and use of a deadly weapon, according to Rolling Stone.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo claimed Davis was the “on-ground, on-site commander” who “ordered the death” of the famed rapper.

The case was reignited after the Las Vegas Police Department (LVPD) conducted a search of Davis’s home in July. The LVPD reported that Davis was under suspicion of being part of the murder plot but did not release specific information.

The warrant reportedly gave the police the right to search Davis’s electronic storage devices and covered thumb drives, computers, phones, CDs and DVDs, external drives and storage devices, iPads and other devices, NBC News reported.

The police were also on the lookout for “notes, writings, ledgers, and other handwritten or typed documents concerning television shows, documentaries, YouTube episodes, book manuscripts, and movies concerning the murder of Tupac Shakur,” according to the warrant.

Davis’s own book may have been one reason the investigation into Shakur’s death was reopened. He has long claimed to have been in a car present during the shooting and in a 2018 episode of Death Row Chronicles, he claimed he knew who shot and killed the famed rapper.

In his 2019 book Compton Street Legend, Davis described what he claimed happened during the shooting that took Shakur’s life.

“Tupac made an erratic move and began to reach down beneath his seat,” Davis wrote. “It was the first and only time in my life that I could relate to the police command, ‘Keep your hands where I can see them.’ Instead, 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.”

Still, Davis has always denied that he fired any shots on that fateful day, Sept. 7, 1996, when Shakur died.

Friday’s arrest marks the first time there has been an arrest in the case.

Shakur has sold 33 million albums and an additional eight million, including streaming and downloads. His on-demand video and audio streams total 10.1 billion, according to entertainment industry data company Luminate, NBC noted.

In 2017, Shakur was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

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