Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis found guilty in Tupac Shakur’s murder three decades later

Nevada, USA, September 1, 2026 — A Las Vegas jury has found Duane “Keffe D” Davis guilty of first-degree murder in connection with the 1996 killing of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, bringing a decades-old case that had remained unresolved for nearly 30 years to a historic verdict.

Davis, 63, was convicted on Monday after a 12-member jury reached a unanimous verdict following nearly three hours of deliberation. He had pleaded not guilty to the charge and told the court that he planned to appeal the conviction.

Prosecutors accused Davis of orchestrating the drive-by shooting that killed Shakur, although they did not allege that he personally fired the fatal shots. Under Nevada law, a person can be held criminally responsible for murder for organizing or participating in a killing even if they were not the gunman.

Shakur was shot on September 7, 1996, while travelling in a BMW driven by Marion “Suge” Knight in Las Vegas. A white Cadillac reportedly pulled alongside their vehicle at a red light before gunfire erupted. Shakur, then 25, died from his injuries six days later, while Knight survived.

The prosecution argued that the attack was carried out in retaliation for the beating of Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, by Shakur and members of his entourage earlier that night at the MGM Grand.

According to prosecutors, Davis and three other men later searched for Shakur and Knight in a white Cadillac. Davis had previously said that he passed a gun to the back seat of the vehicle before one of the men opened fire when they located Shakur’s car. The identity of the shooter was not established during the trial, and the other three men who were in the Cadillac have since died.

A significant part of the prosecution's case centred on Davis’ own public statements over the years. Investigators relied on comments he made during media interviews, recorded discussions with investigators and details published in his 2019 memoir. Prosecutors argued that those statements provided crucial evidence of his involvement in the killing.