LAS VEGAS (AP) — In the first week of testimony at the trial of a man accused of orchestrating the killing of Tupac Shakur, the night of Sept. 7, 1996, has been run and rerun many times — through police who were at the scene, through the people near the hip-hop superstar, and through the recorded words of the suspect, Duane “Keffe D” Davis.Many of the basic facts jurors have learned are not in dispute. Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight were in Las Vegas to watch a Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Just outside, Shakur, Knight and their entourage got into a brawl with Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson. Later that night, Shakur and Knight were in a black BMW at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip, when a white Cadillac with four men inside pulled up beside them and someone opened fire. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later. Knight survived with minor injuries.
Years later, Davis would say he procured the gun and his nephew fired the shots. Davis’ lawyers have disputed the statements and fought unsuccessfully to get them excluded. The other men in the Cadillace have since died, limiting eyewitness testimony.The dispute had its roots in the long-running feud between the Mob Piru Bloods, a gang Knight and Shakur were affiliated with, and the South Side Compton Crips, for whom Davis was a prominent leader.
