It’s been three decades since Tupac Shakur was murdered, but a man is going on trial now in Las Vegas.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis faces a single charge of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further, or assist a criminal gang, The Associated Press reported.
Shakur was shot on Sept. 7, 1996. He and Marion “Suge” Knight were in a car on their way to Club 662 where Shakur was to perform.
A car pulled up and gunshots were exchanged.
Shakur was hit several times as he sat in the passenger seat. He died six days later. Knight survived the shooting.
The Washington Post said that Shakur was at the height of fame when he was killed.
Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, was arrested in 2023. His tell-all book revived the case.
Police said “the leader and shot caller” of the gang, the Post reported.
“My crew was Do or Die,” Davis wrote, according to the newspaper. “All my young homeys had already been shot at least once, so that turned them into some stone-cold killers — they had the mentality of, ‘It’s either them or me, and it ain’t gonna be me.’”
Just under a month short of 30 years after Shakur’s death, jury selection begins and is expected to last a few days.
Prosecutors are not saying that Davis actually pulled the trigger, and the trial is not expected to expose that bombshell. They do, however, plan on saying Davis called for Shakur’s death and provided the gun used, the AP reported.
Davis was the co-author of “Compton Street Legends,” describing the shooting, with the book saying that Davis got the gun from an associate, tossed it in the back of the car, but didn’t say who fired the gun.
Along with Davis, his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, Deandrae “Freaky” Smith and Terry “Bubble Up” Brown were in the car the night of Shakur’s death.
Smith and Brown have died since the shooting. Anderson has been suspected of pulling the trigger, but he was never charged. He also died in an unrelated gang shooting, the AP reported.
About 35 to 45 witnesses are expected to testify at the trial.