LAS VEGAS — Nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in Las Vegas, a jury has found Duane “Keefe D” Davis guilty of first-degree murder in connection with the rapper’s death.
The 63-year-old was convicted Monday, August 31, 2026, of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon, along with a criminal gang enhancement, following less than three hours of jury deliberations.
Prosecutors argued that Davis helped orchestrate the September 7, 1996, shooting as an act of retaliation after an earlier confrontation involving his nephew, Orlando Anderson, and Tupac and members of Death Row Records.
Tupac was riding in a BMW with Death Row co-founder Suge Knight when a white Cadillac pulled alongside them near the Las Vegas Strip. The rapper was struck by multiple bullets and died six days later at the age of 25.
The case remained unsolved for decades before Davis was arrested and charged in 2023. Prosecutors also presented his past public statements about the shooting, including comments made in interviews and his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend.
Davis is the only person to have been formally charged in Tupac Shakur’s killing. He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 13, 2026, and faces a potential sentence of life in prison without parole.
