Former Gang Leader Convicted of Tupac Shakur’s 1996 Murder
Duane "Keffe D" Davis, a former South Side Compton Crips leader, has been found guilty of ordering the drive‑by shooting that killed rap icon Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas on 7 September 1996. The jury convicted Davis on a single count of murder with a deadly weapon.
During the trial, prosecutors presented recordings of Davis’ 2008 police interview in which he admitted being in the white Cadillac that fired the shots, though he did not personally fire the gun. He is alleged to have supplied the handgun used by his nephew, Orlando Anderson, to carry out the attack. Anderson later died in 1998 in an unrelated shooting.
The trial, which has spanned nearly three decades, sparked intense media coverage and conspiracy theories amid the East Coast‑West Coast rap feud and blood‑crip gang rivalry. Shakur was 25, a rising star with a record‑breaking album catalog, when he was slain.
Shakur’s relatives were visibly moved in court, some embracing prosecutors, while family members sat crying. The verdict was welcomed by fans who gathered outside the courthouse, cheering and shedding tears.
Davis, 63, appeared calm in court during the verdict reading and announced his intention to appeal. Clerk Carli Kierny set his sentencing date for 13 October after he requested to reclaim personal belongings and signaled his appeal. The court will determine his fate in the coming weeks.
