Tupac murder trial opens: witness recalls 'all hell broke loose' the night rapper was shot
The murder trial of former gang leader Duane Davis has begun in Las Vegas over the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur. Prosecutors say Davis orchestrated a retaliatory drive-by shooting even though he did not fire the fatal shot.
The trial of 63-year-old Duane "Keffe D" Davis opened in Las Vegas on Monday, with prosecutors accusing him of masterminding the 1996 drive-by shooting that killed rapper Tupac Shakur. Davis has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors told jurors that while Davis did not pull the trigger, he planned the shooting in retaliation after his nephew, Orlando Anderson, was beaten in a fight with Shakur hours earlier that night. Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal said much of this would come from Davis's own words, pointing to a memoir he co-authored in 2019 detailing the events of that night.
Davis's defence team dismissed the account as "fiction," blaming a decades-long, flawed investigation and questioning why no arrest had been made for nearly 30 years. Attorney Michael Sanft asked what evidence prosecutors actually had and why no one corroborated their version. Davis himself has distanced himself from the memoir, saying he didn't write all of it and that parts were fictionalised to boost sales.
What happened that night
The prosecution's first witness, former Las Vegas police officer Garry Dale, testified that he rode in the ambulance with Shakur after the shooting in September 1996. He said the rapper refused to give any information, telling him, "We'll take care of it."
Prosecutors allege Davis obtained a gun and arranged two vehicles, including a white Cadillac carrying his nephew, to search for Shakur. Spotting Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight in a passing convoy, the group allegedly made a U-turn, and Davis passed a gun to Anderson, who fired into Shakur's car.
Witness Ingrid Stokes, who was nearby that night, testified that a car had been tailing her group before they pulled over to switch drivers, at which point gunfire erupted. "All hell broke loose," she told the court.
Shakur, 25 at the time, died six days after the shooting. The case remained unsolved for decades until Davis's own public statements, including his memoir, brought new attention to it.
