Witness to Tupac Shakur shooting indicted on murder charge 27 years after the rapper's death

The rapper was killed in a drive-by shooting in 1996, and since then there has been speculation about who did it

By Nardos Haile

Staff Writer

Published September 29, 2023 5:26PM (EDT)

Rapper Tupac Shakur poses for photos backstage after his performance at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois in March 1994. (Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)
Rapper Tupac Shakur poses for photos backstage after his performance at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois in March 1994. (Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)

A witness to the 1996 drive-by shooting of infamous and legendary rapper Tupac Shakur has been arrested as a suspect in the rapper's shooting death in Las Vegas, making massive headway in a case shrouded in mystery that has puzzled investigators and gripped the public for more than two decades since the rapper's death.

Duane Keith Davis, 60, one of the last living witnesses of the shooting, who also wrote the memoir "Compton Street Legend," has been indicted on one count of murder with the use of a deadly weapon with no chance, a prosecutor said in court on Friday. Bail has also been denied by the judge. According to the AP, Davis was indicted not as the gunman but as what authorities call a "shot caller."

For years after the shootout, Davis has spoken publically about having witnessed Shakur's death from inside the car where the shots were fired. He said he was in the passenger seat of the white Cadillac that pulled up next to the car Shakur was in, who seemingly headed home after a Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas.

The rapper was shot four times and died in the hospital less than a week later. Shakur was only 25 years old and at the height of his burgeoning career as one of the most versatile, trailblazing rappers in the industry. The case was reopened earlier this summer when Las Vegas police raided Davis' home looking for items in connection to the death of Shakur. 

"It has often been said that justice delayed is justice denied," prosecutors told The Associated Press. "In this case, justice has been delayed, but justice won't be denied."

 


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