For almost three decades, authorities struggled to solve the murder of rap icon Tupac Shakur.
Former Los Angeles gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis began recalling the drive-by shooting during interviews and in his memoir.
Davis now faces trial in a high-profile case that has attracted widespread public attention. Jury selection began on August 10, in Las Vegas, and the trial is expected to last several weeks. 
Former police officer recalls Tupac’s final moments
Former Las Vegas police officer Garry Dale said Tupac refused to tell police who shot him. Instead, Dale said, the rapper told officers that he and his entourage would “take care of it”.
Dale rode in the ambulance with Tupac after the 1996 shooting and said he repeatedly asked the rapper who had shot him. According to Dale, Tupac never revealed the shooter’s identity. Six days later, Tupac died from his injuries.
Keffe D denies murder charge
The gang leader has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. Prosecutors allege that he helped orchestrate the attack, while his defense team has denied the allegations and challenged the evidence against him.
Davis said he sat in the front passenger seat of the car when a passenger in the back opened fire on Tupac. Authorities accuse Davis of arranging the murder but do not allege that he pulled the trigger. Prosecutors have argued that Davis’ public statements helped bring the case to trial.
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How the shooting happened
On September 7, 1996, Tupac Shakur was in a BMW near the Las Vegas Strip when a white Cadillac pulled alongside the vehicle.
The prosecution’s case is expected to rely heavily on Davis’ past statements, interviews and memoir, Compton Street Legend.
Prosecutors call the killing an act of revenge
In a Las Vegas courtroom, prosecutors told jurors that the legendary rapper’s killing represented “an act of revenge” carried out by Davis.
Prosecutors also told jurors that Davis orchestrated the 1996 drive-by shooting that killed Tupac at the age of 25. They linked the attack to an earlier confrontation in which Tupac allegedly attacked Davis’ nephew at a Las Vegas casino.
The judge has allowed prosecutors to use Davis’ book and rejected defence attempts to suppress key evidence.
The defence has argued that Davis’ comments lacked reliability and that he did not participate in the shooting.
Prosecutors have relied heavily on Davis’ own accounts of his alleged involvement in the crime, including a 2008 interview and his 2019 memoir. In those accounts, Davis acknowledged that he sat in the front seat during the shooting and said he handed a gun to the shooter in the back seat.
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