The Mystery Surrounding Tupac Shakur's Death

The unsolved killing of Tupac Shakur returned to the headlines this week, after Las Vegas police confirmed that they had served a search warrant in connection with ongoing investigations, almost 30 years after the hip-hop star's death.

Shakur, who used the stage name 2Pac, was shot four times on the night of September 7, 1996, just off the Las Vegas Strip as he sat inside a BMW with then-Death Row Records head Marion "Suge" Knight. Bullets were fired from a Cadillac in the drive-by shooting, and Shakur was hit in the chest, arm and thigh.

Aged just 25 at the time, the "Hail Mary" hit maker succumbed to his injuries six days later on September 13, 1996.

As the 27th anniversary of Shakur's death approaches, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) told Newsweek that it searched a home in Henderson, Nevada, on Monday in connection with the star's murder. A report by 8 News Now said the search occurred near Interstate 11 and Wagon Wheel Drive.

As of Tuesday, no arrests had been made and more information was not readily available. The agency did not state whether a suspect has been identified, or what it was looking for.

LVMPD told Newsweek that it had no further comment about the investigation at this time.

Shakur's murder has remained a mystery, and the ongoing investigation has provided little information about what happened.

In the years since the star's passing, conspiracy theories surrounding the case have abounded, ranging from allegations over who was responsible for his death to suggesting that Shakur is alive and well.

Theories over Shakur's killer were exacerbated by the fact that his death came amid a highly publicized feud with fellow rapper the Notorious B.I.G., or Biggie Smalls. Once friends and music collaborators, the two fell out after Shakur was wounded in another shooting and robbery in the lobby of a New York City recording studio in November 1994.

Shakur publicly accused Smalls and music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs of having prior knowledge of the shooting—allegations they both vehemently denied. The accusation ignited an East Coast-West Coast rivalry that dominated the hip-hop landscape in the mid-1990s.

While born in New York, Shakur was the de facto face of the West Coast, having signed to Los Angeles-based label Death Row Records, while Smalls represented his native East Coast through his affiliation with Combs' Bad Boy Records.

As a result of the feud, some theories saw Smalls accused of organizing Shakur's murder. Smalls, whose real name was Christopher Wallace, was killed in a drive-by shooting aged 24 in Los Angeles, just six months after Shakur died. Mirroring the mystery surrounding the death of his friend-turned-adversary, Smalls' murder remains unsolved.

In 2017, a film about Shakur's life and death titled All Eyez on Me reignited public interest in the case. The film was released on June 16, 2017, on what would have been Shakur's 46th birthday and was named after his 1996 album.

Many believe that Shakur, who was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this year, was killed because of a gang feud. This theory gained traction when the Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G. documentary came out in 2018.

In the documentary, former gang member Duane Keith Davis, otherwise known as Keefe D, said he knew the person who killed Shakur. Davis stated that the person who fired at Shakur was sitting in the backseat of his car with his nephew Orlando Anderson.

Davis alleged that Shakur and Anderson had been fighting in the lobby of the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino on September 7, 1996. A few hours later, a Cadillac pulled up next to the vehicle that Shakur was in and an unknown person fired into the car, hitting Shakur.

However, Davis didn't reveal the name of the killer because "street code" prevented him from doing so.

LVMPD was aware of the allegations and reviewed Shakur's case in its entirety after Davis made the comments.

Despite his short-lived career, Shakur is considered one of hip-hop's most influential figures and has lived on through his versatile body of work. He has had five No. 1 albums, including the posthumous releases The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996), Until the End of Time (2001) and Loyal to the Game (2004).

Shakur also landed 21 Billboard Hot 100 singles, through such top 10 hits as 1996's double A-side single "How Do U Want It/California Love," the former of which featured K-Ci and JoJo, and "Dear Mama," which was released in 1995.

Citing data from entertainment data company Luminate, the Associated Press reported that Shakur has sold 33 million albums. This number increases to 41 million when track sale and streaming equivalents are included. His tally for on-demand video and audio streams currently sits at 10.1 billion.

Shakur also appeared in the movies Above the Rim (1994) and 1993's John Singleton-directed Poetic Justice, which also starred Janet Jackson. As with his music, there were also posthumous releases, including Bullet (1996), Gridlock'd (1997) and Gang Related (1997).