Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA: On Friday, September 29, Duane "Keefe D" Davis was taken into custody and indicted on charges of murder with the use of a deadly weapon in connection with the 1996 death of rapper Tupac Shakur after a five-year-long proceedings by the law enforcement related to the suspect after the case was "reinvigorated" in 2018.
Jason Johansson, the homicide lieutenant of the Las Vegas Police Department, appeared in a new conference and explained the break in the case that led to Davis' arrest nearly 27 years after the death of Shakur.
Amid the ongoing investigation, "additional information came to light related to the homicide in 2018, specifically Duane Davis' own admissions to his involvement related to this homicide investigation that he provided to different media outlets," Johansson mentioned, as per a video obtained by CNN.
"The case was assigned to Cliff Mogg, a detective within the homicide section," he shared, adding, "In over the last 5 years, my section worked closely, hand-in-hand with the Clark County District Attorney's Office and followed a systematic investigative plan."
"We have conducted thousands of interviews and corroborated numerous facts that were not only consistent with the crime scene on the night of the incident but also corroborated and were consistent with the sequence of events that night," continued Johansson.
"This ultimately led to us procuring a search warrant which was executed at Mr Davis' residence in Henderson, Nevada," said the lieutenant in reference to the search executed in Davis' wife's Henderson home in July.
"And following the execution of that search warrant, in close coordination with the District Attorney's Office, this case was presented to the Grand Jury, which ultimately led to Davis being indicted on charges of murder," concluded Johansson.
On September 7, 1996, Shakur was reportedly shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas after watching Mike Tyson box at the MGM Grand Hotel. His murder became the subject of a decades-long investigation and numerous conspiracy theories.
What did authorities say about Duane 'Keefe D' Davis' arrest on charges of Tupac Shakur's murder?
Following Davis' arrest, Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo described him as the "on-ground, on-site commander" who "ordered the death" of Shakur, as per the Daily Mail.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Jason Johansson said Shakur's murder was a "retaliatory" attack of a conflict between two gangs based in Compton, California.
As per the lieutenant, Shakur and Marion "Suge" Knight, former CEO of Death Row Records, were associated with the Mob Piru gang in Compton, while Davis was affiliated with the Southside Compton Crips.
Along with Shakur, who was watching Mike Tyson box at the MGM Grand Hotel on September 7, 1996, members of the Southside Compton Crips, including Davis and his nephew Orlando Anderson, were also present at the event.
"As both groups were leaving the fight, members of Death Row Records spotted Orlando Anderson near an elevator bank inside the MGM and at that time they began to kick and punch him near that elevator bank," shared Johansson while showing hotel surveillance footage of the fight.
"Little did anyone know that it is this incident right here that would ultimately lead to the retaliatory shooting and death of Tupac Shakur," added the lieutenant.
After both groups left the hotel, Shakur reportedly headed to a post-fight after-party with his crew. Meanwhile, Davis "began to devise a plan to obtain a firearm and retaliate against Suge Knight and Mr. Shakur," after he found out about the attack on Anderson.
Johansson said that Davis acquired a gun from a "close associate," and got into a white Cadillac along with Terrence Brown, Deandre Smith, and Anderson.
He added, "At some point in time, as they were in the white Cadillac, Mr Davis took the gun that he had obtained and provided it to the passengers in the rear seat of the vehicle."
The group then followed the black BMW in which Shakur and Knight traveled and began shooting at them through the car's window before fleeing the scene.
A copy of the indictment stated Anderson and Smith were both in the back seat of the Cadillac but did not specify who pulled the trigger.
"Duane Davis was the shot-caller for this group of individuals that committed this crime. He orchestrated the plan that was carried out to commit this crime," mentioned Johansson.
He also said officials were long aware of the outline of events from the night but lacked sufficient evidence to indict Davis, mentioning that the quest to solve the case was "reinvigorated" in 2018 when additional information came to light.
Davis' own admissions also played an important role in the investigation. As per CNN, when police searched the suspect's wife’s home in July, they apparently seized a copy of a memoir authored by him where he wrote about his street gang life and the murder of Shakur.
The 60-year-old described himself as one of only two living witnesses to Shakur’s shooting. "Going to keep it for the code of the streets," reportedly said Davis when asked who of the four men in the car pulled the trigger.
He added, "It just came from the back seat, bro." The outlet also noted that all other individuals involved in the crime are dead except for Davis and Knight.
Anderson reportedly denied his involvement with the murder while speaking to CNN before he died in a gang-related shooting in 1998.
Tupac Shakur fans breathe sigh of relief after Duane 'Keefe D' Davis' arrest
Several of Tupac Shakur's fans took to social media to celebrate Duane "Keefe D' Davis" arrest and conviction nearly three decades after the former's murder.
"How many years now?,the law will always find you no matter where you hide," wrote one.
"It's about time," stated another, with a user chiming in, "It's rather late than never!"
One more expressed, "You say?? Wow!" as a fan commented, "Finally."
"Intriguing developments regarding the Tupac case after all these years. Time has a way of revealing truths," noted another.
Another stated, "Man took the greatest rapper of all time from us."
