30 years later, a former rival will stand trial for Tupac's murder

What the report says

BBC World News reports that Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a former gang leader long linked to the killing of Tupac Shakur, is set to go on trial in Las Vegas more than 30 years after the rapper’s death. Davis, who is 63, has pleaded not guilty to murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote or assist a criminal gang, and prosecutors say a conviction could bring life in prison without parole.

The case centers on the 7 September 1996 drive-by shooting that left Tupac fatally wounded after an altercation earlier that night in Las Vegas involving people around him and Orlando Anderson, whom police identified as a possible figure in the rival gang conflict. According to the BBC, investigators say the killing remained unsolved for years because witnesses would not cooperate, evidence was limited, and some people connected to the case died before they could be questioned. A major focus of the prosecution is Davis’s own public account of events, including a memoir and later interviews that police said helped revive the investigation.

The trial is expected to revisit the broader East Coast and West Coast rap feud and the Bloods-Crips gang tensions that shaped the era. The BBC says the case may involve high-profile witnesses, including Suge Knight, and that jury selection began on Monday, with opening arguments scheduled for 17 August.

More broadly, the reporting places the trial in the context of Tupac’s lasting cultural influence. Born in New York and later associated with Los Angeles’s Death Row Records, he became one of hip-hop’s most iconic figures after his death, while the murder also remained one of popular culture’s most famous unsolved cases until Davis was charged in 2023.