30 Years After His Death, Tupac Shakur Murder Trial Finally Begins
The long-awaited trial of former gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 murder of American rapper Tupac Shakur, began Monday, three decades after the hip-hop star was fatally shot in Las Vegas.
The trial, which is expected to last about a month, opened with jury selection. Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge and faces life imprisonment without parole if convicted.
Prosecutors allege that Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, organised the killing and supplied the firearm used in the drive-by shooting. However, the prosecution is not expected to establish during the trial who actually fired the shots that killed Shakur.
Shakur, popularly known as 2Pac, was shot on September 7, 1996, while travelling in a vehicle with Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight after attending a Mike Tyson boxing match at the MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas. He died six days later at the age of 25.
The murder became one of the most prominent unsolved killings in American music history and fuelled decades of speculation over the identity of the gunman and the motive behind the attack.
Gang rivalry at centre of trial
The case is expected to revisit the bitter rivalry between Death Row Records, associated with the West Coast hip-hop scene, and Bad Boy Records, the New York-based label founded by Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Shakur was one of Death Row’s leading artists, while Bad Boy was associated with rapper Christopher “The Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace, who was himself murdered in Los Angeles in March 1997.
According to prosecutors, tensions escalated after Knight and Shakur confronted and assaulted Davis’s nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, a member of the South Side Compton Crips, following an alleged assault on a Death Row associate.
Prosecutors contend that Davis subsequently sought revenge.
Later that night, a white Cadillac carrying Davis, Anderson and other men reportedly pulled alongside the vehicle carrying Shakur and Knight. Gunfire was then directed at the vehicle, striking Shakur.
Memoir revived investigation
The investigation remained largely dormant for decades before renewed attention followed the publication of Davis’s memoir in 2019.
In the book, Davis acknowledged that he was sitting in the front passenger area of the Cadillac and said he handed a firearm to people in the back seat. He did not identify the person who fired the fatal shots.
The other occupants of the Cadillac have since died.
Davis was arrested in September 2023 after investigators revived the case. Prosecutors are seeking to use statements from his memoir, as well as comments he made to police in 2008, as evidence.
Davis has since denied involvement in Shakur’s killing and disputed the account contained in the memoir.
In a 2025 interview from prison with ABC News, he maintained that he was innocent and argued that authorities lacked evidence placing him at the scene of the murder.
His lawyers unsuccessfully sought to prevent the memoir and his earlier statements to investigators from being admitted as evidence.
Civil case adds new allegations
Regardless of the outcome of the criminal trial, questions surrounding Shakur’s killing are likely to persist.
In May, Shakur’s stepbrother, Maurice Shakur, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit, alleging that other individuals involved in the rapper’s death had not been held accountable.
The civil suit also references a television documentary in which Davis reportedly told police that Sean Combs had offered $1 million for Shakur’s killing. The allegation has not been established in court.
The criminal trial is therefore expected to provide the most significant judicial examination yet of the events surrounding the death of one of hip-hop’s most influential figures.
