Nearly 30 years after rapper Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas, a jury has finally delivered a verdict in the case. On Monday, August 31, jurors found Duane “Keffe D” Davis guilty of first-degree murder, holding him responsible for planning and carrying out the drive-by shooting that killed the hip-hop icon in 1996.
Davis, a former leader of a Los Angeles street gang, was the only person ever formally charged in connection with Shakur’s death, a case that had gone unsolved for decades despite widespread speculation about who was behind it. Prosecutors argued that Davis organized the attack, which took place after a physical altercation between Shakur’s entourage and gang members earlier that same night in Las Vegas.
The rapper, who was 25 years old and already one of the most influential voices in American hip-hop, died days after being shot multiple times while riding in a car on the Las Vegas Strip. His killing, along with the still-unsolved 1997 murder of rival rapper The Notorious B.I.G., became one of the most notorious unsolved mysteries in music history until authorities arrested Davis in 2023.
Davis now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. For fans and investigators alike, the conviction closes one of the longest-running chapters of impunity in American pop culture.
To read the original report in Spanish, visit El Tiempo.
Image: Joe Gratz, CC0 1.0 (via Openverse).