Tupac's last moments: Surprising decision rapper made emerges during trial
This story has significance for readers across Kenya and beyond.
- Duane Davis sat in a Las Vegas courtroom this week as the long-delayed murder trial of Tupac Shakur finally got underway
- Prosecutors told the jury Davis orchestrated the 1996 drive-by shooting as payback after his nephew was beaten that same night
- A former Las Vegas officer testified that a wounded Tupac refused to name anyone, saying his people would handle it themselves
Thirty years after Tupac Shakur was gunned down on the Las Vegas Strip, a jury is finally hearing the case that has shadowed hip-hop history ever since.
The trial of Duane Davis, widely known by his street name Keffe D, opened in a Las Vegas courtroom this week, marking the first time anyone has faced criminal charges over the 1996 killing.
What happened at the Tupac trial?
Davis, now 63, was present in court wearing a navy suit and blue tie, accompanied by his legal team. He has pleaded not guilty.
According to the prosecution, Davis did not fire the fatal shots himself but was the architect of the attack.
Lawyers told the jury he organised the response after his nephew was assaulted earlier that same evening, arranging vehicles and a weapon before the group spotted Shakur and Death Row Records founder Marion "Suge" Knight driving along the strip following a Mike Tyson boxing bout.
A drive-by shooting at a stoplight ended with the 25-year-old rapper fatally wounded.
Prosecutors also pointed to statements Davis made over the years, including in a memoir he co-authored, in which he described the events of that night in considerable detail.
Davis has since distanced himself from those accounts, with his team arguing portions were exaggerated or fabricated to boost commercial appeal.
Davis's lawyers took a sharply different tone, characterising the state's case as a story built on a fundamentally flawed investigation that took a generation to produce a single charge.
They questioned why no arrest was made for so long and argued that the absence of solid, independent corroboration after three decades should give the jury pause.
The wider context of the case is almost as striking as the crime itself.
The mid-1990s East Coast-West Coast rivalry had turned toxic, and the deep-seated Bloods-Crips tension at the time meant witnesses routinely stayed quiet out of fear.
That culture of silence kept investigators circling without answers for years.
Witnesses brought the courtroom back to that September night in 1996.
A former Las Vegas police officer testified that he rode in the ambulance alongside the wounded Shakur, who refused to identify his attackers and made clear he expected those around him to settle matters.
A woman who had been driving near the group at the time recalled the sudden chaos as gunfire broke out at a stoplight.
Members of Shakur's family sat in the public gallery as both sides laid out their competing versions of events.
The trial is expected to run for several weeks, with investigators, expert witnesses and potentially high-profile figures still to appear.
Whether the jury will finally provide closure in a case that has haunted fans and law enforcement for three decades remains the defining question of the proceedings.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
Reporting originally appeared via TUKO. Read the full source for additional context.