Las Vegas police arrested Duane "Keffe D" Davis on Friday in connection with a fatal drive-by shooting in 1996 that killed rapper Tupac Shakur.
Shakur's murder has remained unsolved for 27 years. Police honed their investigation this summer when they searched the home of Davis' wife in Henderson, Nevada, in July. Months later, police arrested Davis early Friday morning, although the exact charges are unclear, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Newsweek reached out to Las Vegas police by email for comment.
Shakur, who was well-known by his stage name 2Pac, was shot four times on September 7, 1996, just off the Las Vegas Strip. Bullets were fired from a Cadillac in the drive-by shooting, and Shakur was hit in the chest, arm and thigh. Shakur, who was only 25, succumbed to his injuries six days later on September 13, 1996.
Davis, a known gangster, has been associated with the case since admitting that he was in the Cadillac where the gunfire originated from on the night Shakur was shot. Davis published a memoir titled Compton Street Legend in 2019, in which he wrote about telling law enforcement in 2010 that he was a witness to the shooting.
The Associated Press reported that while searching the Nevada house in July, police seized computers, a cellphone, a hard drive, a Vibe magazine featuring Shakur, several bullets, two "tubs" of photographs, and a copy of Davis' memoir.
In the years since the drive-by shooting, Shakur's murder has remained a mystery, and the ongoing investigation has provided little information about what really happened that night. Conspiracy theories about the case have abounded, ranging from theories alleging that Shakur is alive and well to accusing rapper Biggie Smalls of organizing the murder as part of a rap feud. Smalls was killed in a drive-by shooting six months after Shakur died.
In 2017, a film about Shakur's life and death titled All Eyez on Me reignited public interest in the case. The film was named after Shakur's 1996 album of the same name. The film was released on June 16, 2017, on what would have been Shakur's 46th birthday.
A documentary titled "Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G." came out a year later. Davis is quoted in the documentary saying he knew the person who killed Shakur.
"I was a Compton kingpin, drug dealer, I'm the only one alive who can really tell you [the] story about the Tupac killing," Davis said at the time. "People have been pursuing me for 20 years. I'm coming out now because I have cancer, and I have nothing else to lose. All I care about now is the truth."
Davis then said that "street code" prevented him from revealing the name of Shakur's killer.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Anna Skinner is a Newsweek senior reporter based in Indianapolis. Her focus is reporting on the climate, environment and weather ... Read more
