Sept. 29 (UPI) — Las Vegas police Friday arrested a man they said was “the shot caller” in the 1996 shooting death of rapper Tupac Shakur.
Duane “Keefe D” Davis, 60, was arrested Friday morning outside his home and faces a single charge of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang, Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo said in a hearing.
District Judge Jerry Wiese ordered Davis held without bail, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Lt. Jason Johansson said that while Davis didn’t pull the trigger of the gun that killed Shakur, he was with the gunman in the vehicle involved in the drive-by shooting.
“I think the best way to characterize that is Duane Davis was the shot caller for this group of individuals that committed this crime and he orchestrated the plan that was carried out to commit this crime,” Johansson said in a news conference.
The Review-Journal reported that investigators believe Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson, who died in another shooting in 1998, was the person who pulled the trigger in the Shakur shooting. Two other suspects in the case are also deceased, CNN reported.
Investigators have long believed Davis and Anderson were behind the shooting, but didn’t have the evidence to bring the case before a grand jury. Metropolitan Police Sheriff Kevin McMahill said Davis’ admissions in a 2018 book he wrote helped prosecutors’ case and led to a grand jury indictment.
“He admitted within that book that he did acquire the firearm with the intent to go hunt down Mr. Shakur and Mr. Knight,” DiGiacomo said Friday. “He admitted to being the front-right passenger in the white Cadillac.”
Police said the Sept. 7, 1996, shooting was precipitated by an argument and fight between Shakur and Anderson after attending a boxing match at the MGM Grand between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon. Later, while Shakur was in a vehicle with Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight, a white Cadillac pulled up and opened fire on Shakur, injuring him.
Shakur died six days later, on Sept. 13, 1996, at the age of 25.
