Tupac murder trial opens nearly 30 years after rapper’s killing

Nearly three decades after Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas, one of hip-hop’s most enduring murder mysteries is finally heading to trial.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a 63-year-old former gang leader, is accused of orchestrating the 1996 drive-by shooting that killed the rap icon.

He has pleaded not guilty.

If convicted, Davis faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Jury selection began on Monday, with opening arguments expected to start on August 17.

The case is expected to revisit one of the most violent and mythologised chapters in music history: the East Coast-West Coast rap rivalry, the rise of Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records, and the deadly gang tensions between the Bloods and Crips in 1990s America.

Shakur was shot on September 7, 1996, while riding in a BMW driven by Suge Knight, the then head of Death Row Records.

The two had just attended the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Earlier that night, surveillance footage captured Shakur and members of his entourage attacking Orlando Anderson, an alleged member of the South Side Compton Crips.

Police have said some members of Shakur’s group were associated with the Mob Piru Bloods.

About three hours after the MGM incident, a white Cadillac pulled up beside Knight’s car and opened fire.

Shakur was hit four times.

He died six days later at the age of 25.

For years, the killing remained unsolved.

Police said witnesses refused to cooperate, while members of Shakur’s entourage accused investigators of treating them as suspects and failing to properly pursue leads.

Anderson was identified from the MGM footage and questioned shortly after the shooting, but he denied involvement and was never charged.

He was later killed in an unrelated shooting in 1998.

The case stalled for decades amid limited physical evidence, disappearing witnesses, gang-related killings and a street culture that discouraged cooperation with police.

It was Davis, Anderson’s uncle, who later brought the case back into focus.

Prosecutors are expected to rely heavily on statements Davis made over the years, including claims in a book he co-authored.

Davis has argued that parts of the book were fictionalised.

That issue is likely to be central to the trial.

The proceedings could also draw major figures from the era, including Suge Knight, who has long been viewed as one of the last surviving eyewitnesses to Shakur’s shooting.

The trial is expected to explore how Shakur became caught between music, celebrity, street politics and gang conflict.

Although born in New York, Shakur came to be identified with West Coast rap after signing with Death Row Records, home to artists including Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre.

His mother, Afeni Shakur, was a Black Panther, and those close to his legacy have often argued that his music reflected both political consciousness and street realism.

Before his death, Shakur had already become one of hip-hop’s defining voices.

He acted in films, released several successful albums and became the first hip-hop artist to release a double album with All Eyez on Me, which sold millions of copies.

His murder transformed him from a major rap star into a cultural symbol.

For fans, the unanswered questions around his death only deepened the mythology.

Now, with Davis before a Las Vegas court, prosecutors will try to prove that the killing was not simply a music-industry mystery, but a gang-linked retaliation that followed the MGM Grand altercation.

The trial is expected to test whether decades-old statements, disputed accounts and surviving evidence are enough to secure a conviction in one of the most famous unsolved killings in modern music history.