A killer is finally brought to justice for the murder of Tupac Shakur

Nearly thirty years later, the case is deemed closed

Photo Courtesy of Pexels- Wale Adebisi

For almost three decades, the murder of Tupac Shakur was one of American pop culture’s most enduring unsolved mysteries. It was a case that seemed tangled in gang rivalries, conspiracy theories and a hip-hop feud that outlived the man in its center. However, on Sept. 1, 2026, the case was closed—at least in part. On that day, a Clark County jury convicted Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, of the 1996 killing of the rapper. According to CNN, “it took less than three hours for a jury of 12 Clark County, Nevada, residents to convict Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a former leader in the South Side Compton Crips, of first-degree murder—less time than the closing statements in the trial took.”

This moment marked the first time anyone has been held legally accountable for Shakur’s death. According to TIME Magazine, “One of four men in a white Cadillac fired 13 shots into the 25-year-old rap legend’s vehicle,” as per a 1996 edition of the magazine.

Shakur, 25, was shot on the night of Sept. 7, 1996, as he reportedly rode in a black BMW driven by Death Row Records co-founder, Marion “Suge” Knight, after the two attended a Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand, documented by TIME. Knight was “grazed by a bullet but survived,” while Shakur was hit multiple times and “pronounced dead at the hospital six days later on Sept. 13, 1996.”

No arrests followed the crime for years. Investigators have said the case stalled largely because witnesses were unwilling to cooperate. As The Guardian explained, “for years, US law enforcement officials blamed their failure to solve hip-hop star Tupac Shakur’s murder on the lack of cooperation from key witnesses, and on gang members’ ‘snitches get stitches’ culture.”

Davis was not accused of directly pulling the trigger. BBC reports, “[p]rosecutors argued that although Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips street gang, did not himself fire the gun, he ordered the shooting and supplied the gun that his nephew Orlando Anderson used to open fire.” Under Nevada law, Davis was tried as though he himself carried out the murder. Justia Law quotes the Nevada law as, “every person who, directly or indirectly, counsels, encourages, hires, commands, induces or otherwise procures another to commit a felony, gross misdemeanor or misdemeanor is a principal, and shall be proceeded against and punished as such.” 

The case against Davis leaned heavily on his own remarks and works which were produced from the murder. As per BBC, “he had told authorities about his role in Shakur’s death during a secret 2008 police interview related to the death of fellow rapper Notorious B.I.G., real name Christopher Wallace.”

In 2019, Davis would end up publishing his memoir, Compton Street Legend. He would give, as quoted by  TIME Magazine, “multiple interviews promoting his book—and the role of the Crips in Shakur’s death. He describes himself as ‘one of the only living eyewitnesses to Tupac’s killing.’” 

Davis’ defense argued the memoir was written for entertainment and profit, not as a factual account, and sought to keep both the book and the 2008 police interview out of evidence. As quoted by CNN, Davis’ defense attorney attempted  to convince the jury that this story was “nearly two-decades-long work of fiction.” Clark County District Judge Carli Kierny rejected those efforts, ruling that Davis had marketed the book as the truth rather than fiction, and that his 2008 statements to police had been given voluntarily. As also reported by CNN, “Davis was taking credit for the shooting even before there was money riding on it.”

The trial began back in mid-August and took approximately two weeks. The trial included testimony from more than two dozen prosecution witnesses. Marion “Suge” Knight, who is serving a separate, lengthy prison sentence in California for a fatal 2015 hit-and-run, as reported by NBC News, declined to testify; according to TIME Magazine, he stated beforehand that "[t]his trial has nothing to do with me and if somebody brings me there, it’s gonna hurt whoever brings me there. I promise you that.”. Members of Shakur’s family, including his sister Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur and stepbrother Maurice “Mopreme” Shakur, were also on the witness list and present throughout the proceedings, CNN reported.

Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before returning a unanimous guilty verdict:a shocking and swift end to a case that had been marinating for 30 years. As the verdict was read, CNN reported, Shakur's family members “erupted into constrained emotion,” with his sister Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur “crying quietly,” while on the other side of the courtroom, Davis’s son “held a hand to his face.” In a statement released through their attorney, Shakur’s family said they were “elated and relieved” and thanked jurors for “thoughtfully fulfilling their duty,” as per that same CNN article.

Even as the identity of the person who fired the fatal shots remains, at least officially, unresolved, fans have gained some closure. For a case which was long defined by its inability to be truly solved, the conviction offers something that is  the closest to closure the investigation produced in three decades.