Tupac’s alleged killer ‘admitted to role in shooting in secret interview’

The opening statements have begun in the trial of Duane Davis, who is accused of being instrumental in the murder of Tupac Shakur.

The rapper was killed in a drive-by shooting in a now-infamous moment in rap history but no arrests were made until 2023.

On September 7, 1996, Tupac and Marion ‘Suge’ Knight were shot while waiting at a red light; driver Knight survived but Tupac died after a bullet entered his lung.

Davis, 63, is on trial in Las Vegas for murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He has denied the allegations.

In the opening statements, prosecutor Binu Palal claimed the alleged former gang boss had been the ‘on-site commander’ and handed the gun to his nephew Orlando Anderson to shoot Tupac.

Palal then claimed that in a secret interview with federal agents, Davis ‘admits to his role in the shooting’, after denying it to the FBI.

He explained that a federal taskforce had been set up to investigate the murder of Christopher Wallace, known as the Notorious B.I.G, six months after Tupac’s death.

According to the prosecution, Davis claimed to have no information on Biggie but said he could ‘tell you about Tupac’.

‘He tells a federal taskforce about his involvement which you’ve heard is orchestration of the murder of Tupac Shakur,’ Palal stated.

Jurors were shown diagrams of alleged gang links, CCTV footage of the MGM Grand fight — in which Tupac and his entourage attacked Davis’s nephew— and a sketch of the white Cadillac and its four occupants.

The court heard how in 2017, Davis ‘went public’, showing a recording of an interview in which he claims the former gang boss admits to being in the white Cadillac and being part of the murder.

Davis published a book, Compton Street Legend, in 2019, in which the prosecution says he was ‘angry’ about the beating of his nephew.

Defence attorney Michael Sanft argued that police work on the case had been ‘biased, sloppy and incomplete’.