Prosecutors in Las Vegas have told jurors that rapper Tupac Shakur was shot dead in 1996 as revenge for an attack on the nephew of former gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis. Davis, 63, denies the charge.
Opening statements were delivered this week in the murder trial arising from one of hip-hop’s most famous unsolved crimes. As reported by DR, Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal said Davis arranged for the gunmen to be armed and ready when the chance for revenge arrived.
ABC7 News reports that the trial is being held in Clark County District Court, with opening statements made on Monday, August 17. Shakur, who performed as 2Pac, was 25 when shots from a passing Cadillac struck him. He died in the hospital six days later.
Davis faces one count of murder with a deadly weapon and has pleaded not guilty, according to CNN. Prosecutors do not allege that he fired the shots. Per DR, Palal said Davis sat in the front passenger seat of the Cadillac and handed a pistol to those in the back.
Gang rivalry and video evidence
The BBC reports that prosecutors described Davis as a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips who acted as the group’s field commander and ordered the killing. The Los Angeles Times places the case within a rivalry between that gang and Mob Piru, which was associated with Death Row Records.
According to the Los Angeles Times, jurors were shown video from the MGM Grand that allegedly shows Shakur’s entourage attacking Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson, near the elevators after a Mike Tyson fight on September 7, 1996. Anadolu Agency reports that Palal told jurors the shooting followed about two and a half hours later.
Davis’ lawyer, Michael Sandt, told jurors that investigators still have very little evidence after 30 years, DR reports. Sandt said his client has a habit of talking nonsense, and that his statements in interviews and in his book have not been confirmed.
The prosecution case rests largely on Davis’ own words. CNN notes that his 2019 memoir describes him obtaining a gun and passing it to someone in the rear seat of the white Cadillac. Police have said he was long a suspect, but that charges only became possible once he incriminated himself publicly.
Anadolu Agency reports that Davis was arrested and indicted in 2023 on that basis. Jury selection began on August 10, 2026, according to CNN. DR reports that everyone else who was in the Cadillac that night has since died, and that the trial is expected to last about a month.
