More than 25 years after Tupac Shakur was gunned down at a Las Vegas intersection, Duane “Keefe D” Davis was arrested for his connection to the murder. It was the biggest development in the case since Shakur’s 1996 death.
According to retired Las Vegas Police Department detective Cliff Mogg, who testified before the Clark County grand jury in the case last month, people associated with the murders of both The Notorious B.I.G. and Shakur were involved, noting the “theory was accurate that they were related.” He also claimed there were different assailants in each attack.
Prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo asked per TMZ, “When you say they were related, you’re not saying perpetrated by the same individuals?” Mogg replied, “That’s correct.”
Mogg testified Davis was ultimately arrested due to the myriad interviews over the years in which he talked openly about his alleged involvement in the murder. Mogg theorized he was getting good money to discuss the killing on video.
On Wednesday (October 4), a Nevada judge granted Keefe D’s request to delay his arraignment. Judge Tierra Jones rescheduled the hearing for October 19 after Keefe D said his attorney needed a two-week continuance. Keefe D was arrested for his alleged role in Tupac’s 1996 murder on September 29. Davis was charged with one count of murder with the use of a deadly weapon and with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang.
Authorities claimed Davis “ordered the death” of Shakur and the attempted murder of Suge Knight, who was in the car with him at the time of the shooting. Davis publicly admitted his involvement in the 1996 shooting in interviews and a memoir titled Compton Street Legend.
“Duane Davis was the shot caller for this group of individuals that committed this crime,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Jason Johansson said. “And he orchestrated the plan that was carried out.”
Davis is the uncle of Orlando Anderson, who was long considered the prime suspect in Shakur’s murder. Anderson died in a gang-related shooting in 1998. Knight insisted Anderson wasn’t the shooter, but the former Death Row Records CEO refused to identify the gunman. Knight, who’s serving a 28-year prison sentence in an unrelated case, declared he wouldn’t testify against Davis.