Thursday, 6 August 2026, 13:38
The killing of Tupac Shakur has haunted hip-hop for nearly three decades. On Aug. 10, a Las Vegas jury will finally hear the case against Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the only person ever charged in the 1996 drive-by shooting.
Shakur was in the passenger seat of a black BMW driven by Marion “Suge” Knight when a white Cadillac pulled up on the right and opened fire. Knight was grazed by a bullet or shrapnel and survived. Shakur died six days later. He was 25.
The BMW carried Shakur and Knight, both central figures in West Coast hip-hop. Knight founded Death Row Records, the Los Angeles label that represented Shakur at the time.
Inside the Cadillac were Davis, his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, and two other men. Davis has said he obtained a handgun and tossed it into the back seat, but he has not said who fired the fatal shots. Anderson was in the back seat, behind his uncle. The other two men, including a man known as “Big Dre,” were never charged before they died.
Like two rams locking horns, Suge and I looked each other dead in the eye.
Davis wrote that line in his 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend.” He has described himself and Knight as the only living eyewitnesses to what truly happened. Retired Las Vegas police Detective Clifford Mogg testified to a grand jury that neither the Cadillac nor the gun was ever recovered.
Police and prosecutors say the shooting was retaliation. Hours earlier, Anderson had been beaten in a brawl at the MGM Grand casino that involved Shakur and his associates, including Knight. Davis wrote that the attack on his nephew gave them the ultimate green light to do something. Anderson denied involvement and died two years later in a shooting at a Compton car wash that police said was unrelated.
The case reaches deep into California. Davis has said he led a Crips sect in Compton. Knight and Davis grew up in the same city and played on the same youth football team. Knight later played at UNLV and briefly appeared as a replacement player for the Los Angeles Rams during the 1987 NFL strike.
Knight is now serving a 28-year prison sentence in California for running over and killing a Compton businessman in 2015. His downfall followed years as one of the most powerful and feared figures in the music industry.
For California readers, the trial is a reminder that the sounds of West Coast hip-hop were shaped in Los Angeles neighborhoods and that the industry’s darkest feud was never fully resolved.
Shakur was one of the most influential rappers of all time. He had five No. 1 albums, earned six Grammy nominations and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. He received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023. His fourth solo album, “All Eyez on Me,” had sold about 5 million copies by the time he died.
Born in New York in 1971, Shakur was raised by a mother and stepfather active in the Black Panther Party. Two of his siblings have publicly criticized authorities for the slow pace of the investigation.
Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty. His trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 10 in Clark County District Court. If convicted, he would become the first person held accountable in a case that has fascinated the public for decades.
The verdict may not bring closure to everyone, but it will put the known facts of that night under oath for the first time.
