Duane “Keffe D” Davis, one of the last living witnesses to the infamous drive-by shooting of American rapper Tupac Shakur was charged with murder involving the 1996 killing on Friday (29).
On September 7 1996, Shakur, who was in a BMW driven by Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight, was shot by an individual in a white Cadillac as the car was waiting at a red light. Shakur was hit multiple times, dying a week later.
Announced by Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo, Davis was indicted on one count of murder with a deadly weapon by a Nevada grand jury.
Davis has been long known to authorities and investigators, himself admitting in interviews and in his 2019 tell-all memoir, Compton Street Legend, that he was in the Cadillac during the September 1996 shooting.
According to his memoir, Davis reveals that he first broke his silence to federal and local authorities during a closed-door meeting in 2010. During this time, the then 46-year-old was facing life in prison on drug charges. He had agreed to speak to them about Tupac’s fatal death, as well as the shooting of Tupac’s rap rival, Biggie Smalls which occurred six months later.
“They offered to let me go for running a ‘criminal enterprise’ and numerous alleged murders for the truth about the Tupac and Biggie murders,” reads the memoir. “They promised they would shred the indictment and stop the grand jury if I helped them out.”
Davis was described by DiGiacomo as the “on-ground, on-site commander” who “ordered the death” of 25-year-old Shakur. Homicide Lieutenant Jason Johansson claimed that Davis was the “leader and shot caller.”
A statement made by Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill at a news conference on Friday claims, “for 27 years the family of Tupac Shakur has been waiting for justice.”
According to DiGiacomo, charges were revealed to the public hours after Davis, 60, had been arrested whilst walking near his home in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson.
Source: The Age
