Duane 'Keffe D' Davis Pleads Not Guilty to Tupac Shakur 1996 Murder Charge
Duane 'Keffe D' Davis, the former South Side Compton Crips gang leader, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Tupac Shakur. Davis, aged 63, appeared in a Las Vegas courtroom to face the charge, nearly three decades after the iconic rapper was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in September 1996.
The arrest of Davis in September represented a significant development in the enduring mystery surrounding Shakur’s death. Authorities had maintained for years that Davis possessed critical information regarding the killing, given his self-proclaimed involvement and past admissions.
Prosecutors allege Davis ordered the shooting that killed Shakur, following an altercation earlier that evening at the MGM Grand casino. Shakur, along with Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight, had reportedly assaulted Davis's nephew, Orlando Anderson, in the casino lobby. Anderson, a rival gang member, was later killed in an unrelated shooting in 1998.
Davis's indictment came after renewed police interest in the cold case, including a raid on his home in Henderson, Nevada. The grand jury's decision to indict Davis relies heavily on his own public statements and a 2019 memoir, where he recounted being in the vehicle from which the fatal shots were fired.
This prosecution is expected to revisit long-held theories and new evidence concerning the circumstances of Shakur's death, which has remained a focal point of public and media fascination for decades.
