LAS VEGAS — Law enforcement authorities with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department have arrested Duane “Keffe D” Davis who has long been connected to the deadly drive-by shooting of Tupac Shakur, a case that has frustrated investigators and fascinated the public ever since the rapper was gunned down on the Las Vegas Strip on Sept. 7, 1996.
Davis was taken into custody early Friday morning, KTLA reported. The exact charge or charges were not immediately clear, according to two officials with first-hand knowledge of the arrest. Authorities are expected to make a statement later Friday once the indictment is publicized.
The man known as “Keffe D” has been on the radar of investigators as he acknowledged during interviews and in his explosive 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” that he was in the Cadillac where the gunfire erupted during the September 1996 drive-by shooting. Shakur was 25 when he was killed.
On July 17, Las Vegas police raided the home of Davis’s wife in nearby Henderson, Nevada. According to court documents, detectives were looking for items “concerning the murder of Tupac Shakur.”
Police seized multiple computers, a cellphone and hard drive, a Vibe magazine that featured Shakur, several .40-caliber rounds, two “tubs containing photographs” and a copy of Davis’ 2019 tell-all memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” reported KTLA.
In his memoir, Davis opened up about Shakur’s killing during a 2010 closed-door meeting with federal and local authorities. At the time, he was 46 and facing life in prison on narcotic trafficking charges when he agreed to speak with investigators.
“They promised they would shred the indictment and stop the grand jury if I helped them out,” he wrote in the book, while describing himself as one of the last living witnesses to the shooting.