Report: Arrest Iminent In 1996 Murder Of Hip-Hop Icon Tupac Shakur?
Tupac Shakur [WikiMedia Commons]
LAS VEGAS, NV — According to KNTV, an arrest looms in the 1996 death of Tupac Shakur.
The rapper was targeted in a drive-by shooting outside the MGM Grand Las Vegas following a Mike Tyson fight on September 7, 1996. He was shot four times. After nearly a week of surgeries and intensive hospital care, Shakur died on September 13.
The break in the case reportedly came from an interview with former gang member Keffe D — whose real name is Duane Keith Davis — that aired in February on BET’s Death Row Chronicles documentary series.
On the show, Davis claims that he was in the front seat of a white Cadillac in Las Vegas in 1996 when one of two passengers in the backseat opened fire on the vehicle carrying Shakur, 25, and Death Row Records kingpin Suge Knight.
The two men in the backseat have been identified as Orlando Anderson, Davis’s nephew; and DeAndre Smith.
Police had previously named Anderson as a prime suspect in the case, but he died in 1998 during a gangland gun battle in Compton. Smith, however, is still alive and free.
The Las Vegas Police Department has officially declared that they are not preparing to arrest anyone. Nonetheless, KNTV is reporting otherwise, quoting a retired Las Vegas homicide detective:
“It was pretty much common knowledge who did it. It’s kind of a given gang members don’t talk to cops, especially in murder cases. That’s what happened on this case.”
In their official statement on the KNTV report, the LVPD proclaimed:
“We are aware of the statements made in a BET interview regarding the Tupac case. As a result of those statements we have spent the last several months reviewing the case in its entirety. Various reports that an arrest warrant is about to be submitted are inaccurate. This case still remains an open homicide case.”
Adding to the speculation is that Duane Keith Davis said on camera that he’s coming forward now because he’s in ill health, stating:
“People have been pursuing me for 20 years, I’m coming out now because I have cancer, and I have nothing else to lose. All I care about now is the truth.”
Read more: KNTV, KABC, New York Daily News, Maxim
