ALLEGED FORMER GANG MEMBER INDICTED IN RAPPER TUPAK SHAKUR MURDER

MIAMI – Twenty-seven years after the murder of rap artist Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas, authorities finally made an arrest.

According to Las Vegas authorities, 60year-old Dwayne “Keffe D” Davis, an alleged former gang member of the Southside Compton Crips, was arrested and indicted in connection with the murder of Shakur who was killed in a drive-by shooting on September 7, 1996 after he attended the Mike Tyson-Bruce Sheldon fight at the MGM Grand.

According to the Associated Press, Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo said Davis ordered the hit on Shakur following a violent altercation in the casino between the rapper and his entourage including Death Row records founder and CEO Marion “Suge” Knight and Davis and other gang members that led up to the shooting on the Las Vegas Strip.

Shakur, 25, and his entourage including Knight apparently got into a violent altercation in the casino with Davis and other Crips members that later led up to the shooting on the Las Vegas Strip.

According to authorities, Davis and his nephew Orlando Anderson, who is now deceased, swore they would get even with Shakur and Knight.

The slain rapper was riding in the passenger side of a car driven by Knight when a white Cadillac pulled alongside and fired multiple shots, critically wounding Shakur.

He died several days later in a Las Vegas hospital.

The murder case epitomized the frustration of law enforcement officials for nearly three decades as leads grew cold.

The case was featured on documentary shows including Unsolved Mysteries and America’s Most Wanted where reenactments were created of the fight and subsequent shooting, as law enforcement officials hoped someone would step forward with information leading to an arrest.

Authorities have faced mounting pressure over the years from the music industry and Black community to solve Shakur’s murder.

One possible lead was an aspiring rapper from New York who was in Las Vegas and witnessed the shooting but was killed when he returned to his hometown.

Authorities weren’t able to determine if the murder was connected to Shakur’s death.

Authorities started taking a closer look at Davis when he openly admitted in past interviews and a book he wrote that he was in the car that fired the bullets.

In July, authorities raided the home of Davis’ wife while executing a search warrant in connection with Shakur’s murder investigation.

Authorities declined to divulge what they found because the investigation is still ongoing but evidence they discovered at Davis’ wife’s home and surveillance video of the fight inside the MGM Grand that led to the shooting connected Davis to the murder.

Authorities said Davis and Anderson planned retaliation against Shakur following the wild scuffle.

“At the same time word spread among Southside Compton Crips what happened inside the MGM and that’s when Dwayne Davis began to devised a plan to obtain a firearm in retaliation against Knight and Mr. Shakur for what occurred inside the hotel against Mr. Anderson,” said DiGiacomo.

The arrest comes during the Hip Hop Turning 50 celebration as Shakur is being honored for his contribution to Black music.

Local rap artist and record executive Luther Campbell who founded Two Live Crew in the 1980s was among the music artists recognized for creating South Florida base music.

When Campbell interviewed Shakur in 1995 at Club 662 in Las Vegas, the two talked about his album All Eyez on Me released that year and when he was shot in 1994 outside a recording studio in New York.

Shakur showed Campbell he was wearing a bulletproof vest.

“I got shot five times but not one bullet went into my chest,” Shakur said during the interview.

Shakur publicly said Bad Boys records founder Sean Combs and his friendturned rival The Notorious B.I.G., real name Christopher Wallace, were responsible for the attack during the East Coast-West Coast rap war.

Ironically, Wallace was shot to death six months after Shakur’s death in Los Angeles.

Shakur was widely considered one of the most influential and successful rappers of all time and]among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide.

Much of Shakur’s music has been noted for addressing contemporary social issues that plagued inner cities, and he is considered a symbol of activism against inequality.

Shakur has been remembered with museum exhibits, including “Tupac Shakur. Wake Me When I’m Free” in 2021 and “All Eyez on Me” at the Grammy Museum in 2015.

Oakland officials have said a stretch of an Oakland street will be renamed after him.

Shakur posthumously received a star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame this year.

He also starred in several movies including Poetic Justice opposite Janet Jackson, Above the Rim and Juice.