Tupac Murder Trial Begins: Witness Recalls “All Hell Broke Loose” as Shots Rang Out
The murder trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis opened this week in Las Vegas, nearly three decades after rapper Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in a drive-by attack on September 7, 1996. Davis, 63, faces one count of murder with a deadly weapon. He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors allege Davis didn’t pull the trigger himself but orchestrated the shooting as the leader of the group responsible. According to the prosecution’s opening statement, Davis and several others, including his nephew Orlando Anderson, were riding in a white Cadillac the night of the shooting when they spotted Tupac and Death Row Records executive Suge Knight nearby. The group allegedly made a U-turn to confront them, with Davis, seated in the front passenger seat, passing a gun to the back seat before Anderson opened fire into Tupac’s vehicle.
Prosecutors say the attack was retaliation for an earlier altercation that night, when Tupac and members of his entourage assaulted Anderson following a Mike Tyson fight in Los Angeles, an incident that was caught on video. According to the prosecution, Davis later described his anger over the assault in his own memoir, published in 2019, and reportedly told a federal task force investigating the murder of another rapper, Christopher Wallace (The Notorious B.I.G.), about his role in orchestrating Tupac’s killing. That interview was secretly recorded. Davis also discussed his involvement publicly in 2017.
The defence pushed back hard in its own opening statement, urging jurors to view the prosecution’s account with scepticism. The defence attorney, Michael Sanft, argued the case rests on a flawed, years-long investigation marked by missing police reports, mishandled evidence, and unreliable witnesses with criminal records and financial motives to testify.
The prosecution has since begun calling witnesses. A former Las Vegas police officer testified about pulling over Tupac and Knight’s vehicle earlier that night for a missing licence plate and later described riding in the ambulance with Tupac after the shooting, recalling the rapper’s response when asked who had attacked him.
Another witness, Ingrid Stokes, who had been driving nearby when the shooting occurred, described the chaos of the moment as gunfire broke out around her vehicle.
The trial is ongoing, with more witness testimony expected in the coming days.