Tupac Shakur is a legend in Hip Hop music/ culture who reigned in the early and late 1990’s. His contribution to the world was filled with many timeless tracks that still impact of today. Unfortunately, he lost his life in a fatal shooting. For 27 years it has been a mystery on who exactly plotted and executed the murder of Tupac Shakur. On October 19th, 2023, Duane “Keffe D” Davis will make an appearance in court for his involvement of the shooting.
According to the 2019 memoir “Compton Street Legend”, Davis admitted to his role in the shooting, which took place on September 7th, 1996. Davis’s nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, got into a disagreement with Tupac at the MGM Grand hotel-casino after a Mike Tyson fight. Davis and Marion “Suge” Knight, CEO of Death Row Records, who was rolling with Tupac that night, were in an entourage that involved people associated with gangs in which did not get along, which brought a lot of tension to the argument. Tupac, in the passenger seat, left the casino with Suge, driving, in a BMW. It wasn’t long after they left that the two were held up at a stop light, in which a white Cadillac pulled up beside them and unloaded gunfire. Tupac was struck and lost his life the following week. Davis has said that he was in the front passenger seat of that Cadillac and is the one who handed the .40-caliber handgun to his nephew in the back seat, from which he said the shots were fired. Although he didn’t shoot the gun, he ultimately assisted, which is a felony in the state of Nevada. The rest of the people in the Cadillac involved with the shooting are not alive as of today and have passed due to other causes unrelated to the shooting.
Though Tupac Shakur is finally facing the justice he deserves, is it ultimately fair that this took as long as it has? Many question, especially the family of Tupac, why this investigation took 27 years to take action upon. Although the family is appreciative of the case, they are also frustrated. Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, issued a statement describing the arrest as “a pivotal moment” but didn’t praise authorities who investigated the case. “The silence of the past 27 years surrounding this case has spoken loudly in our community,” she said. Tupac Shakur’s stepbrother, Mopreme Shakur, stated “Law enforcement hasn’t cared for a long time,” to The Associated Press over Zoom from his home in Los Angeles. “Young Black men often deal with delayed justice because we’re often viewed as the criminals. So justice has been delayed for quite some time — in spite of all the eyes, all the attention, despite the celebrity of my brother.” Though the authorities deny this accusations. Sheriff Kevin McMahill, who oversees the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, has responded to the criticism by saying “That was simply not the case,” McMahill said. He called the investigation “important to this police department.”
Though many could argue whether or not there has been the right amount of effort put into solving the mystery of Tupac Shakur’s murder, it is safe to say that things are moving towards finally giving the legend the justice he deserves.
