A jury has found Duane “Keffe D” Davis guilty of helping orchestrate the 1996 killing of rap star Tupac Shakur.
The 63-year-old Davis was convicted Monday in Las Vegas of murder with a deadly weapon. He could face life in prison. Jurors reached their verdict after less than three hours of deliberation.
Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, cried and hugged prosecutors after the verdict.
Prosecutors said Davis got a gun and helped organize the attack after Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight were involved in a fight with Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson.
Shakur was riding in a car with Knight in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996, when a white Cadillac pulled up beside them and gunfire erupted. Shakur was shot several times and died six days later. Knight was wounded but survived.
Davis has said for years that he was inside the Cadillac and handed a gun to people in the back seat. Prosecutors did not claim Davis pulled the trigger. Instead, they argued he was responsible for the killing because he helped provide the gun and directed the attack.
Davis is the only surviving person prosecutors say was inside the Cadillac. No one had been charged in Shakur’s death for nearly three decades until Davis was arrested in 2023.
The case was tied to a long-running rivalry between the South Side Compton Crips and the Mob Piru gang. Prosecutors also pointed to Davis’ memoir and past interviews as evidence in the case.
