ET breaks down Tupac Shakur’s murder investigation, the ‘California Love’ rapper’s drive-by shooting and the ensuing trial for Duane ‘Keefe D’ Davis. On Sept. 28, 2023, police charged Davis, alleging he was the shot caller in a retaliation murder on Tupac decades earlier near the Las Vegas strip. At 25 years old, Tupac was riding a steady wave of career highs and controversy when he attended a boxing match at the MGM Grand, along with Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight. After the fight, Tupac attacked Compton Crips member and Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson, at the hotel, which police claim instigated his gang leader uncle to order the hit. Tupac was shot multiple times and was hospitalized for a week, before succumbing to his injuries on Sept. 13, 1996. Davis later said in a memoir and to media outlets that he supplied Anderson, who died in 1998, with the murder weapon. At a press conference, law enforcement revealed this admission breathed new life into their cold case investigation and led to a grand jury handing down a murder indictment for Davis. Among the many theories surrounding Tupac’s murder, the court of public opinion looked at Notorious B.I.G. and Diddy in the aftermath. After Biggie Smalls was gunned down six months later, their mirroring murders seemingly ended the so-called East Coast vs. West Coast rap feud that dominated headlines across the ’90s. Speaking with the Associated Press, Tupac’s high school friend and longtime confidant, Jada Pinkett Smith, said she was ‘glad’ to see Davis arrested, as he’s someone the public ‘always knew was in the car’ that pulled up next to the multi-platinum artist on his final night in Sin City. ET also looks back at Tupac’s life with archival interviews, including the many legal troubles and court sagas that ran parallel to his cut-short career. Plus, ET opens a vault of rare breaking news coverage and shocked reactions across the entertainment industry, including emotional comments at the time from Ice Cube, Coolio, Will Smith and more.
