A previously unreleased police interview with Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis, in which he appears to admit his role in Tupac Shakur‘s killing, has been played in court.
READ MORE: Who killed Tupac? Everything we know about hip-hop’s greatest mystery
The murder trial over Shakur’s death is ongoing in Las Vegas, and Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder with use of a deadly weapon. Prosecutors allege that he orchestrated the September 1996 drive-by attack, although he is not accused of firing the shots himself.
During proceedings on Thursday (August 20), jurors were played a recording of a December 2008 meeting between Davis and investigators at his lawyer’s office in Los Angeles County.
The meeting was arranged after detectives told Davis that he could face life imprisonment over unrelated drug charges. In exchange for his co-operation, former LAPD detective Greg Kading told him that nothing he said during the meeting could be used against him.
In the recording, Davis identified himself as the front passenger in the rented white Cadillac that pulled alongside the BMW carrying Shakur and Suge Knight on September 7, 1996.
He said Terrence ‘Bubble Up’ Brown was driving, while his nephew Orlando ‘Baby Lane’ Anderson and DeAndre ‘Dre’ Smith were sitting in the back. Davis claimed that he passed a loaded gun to the back seat because he did not have a clear shot from his side of the vehicle.
Part 1: Keefe D’s 2008 Interview w/ LAPD About Tupac + Biggie Murders & Diddy https://t.co/VaFaqSFaab
— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) August 21, 2026
According to the recording, Smith initially hesitated before Anderson took the weapon. “He rolled down the window, popped ’em,” David told investigators.
Davis claimed he would have opened fire himself had Knight’s BMW been positioned on his side of the Cadillac. He also said he saw Shakur attempting to move into the back seat as the shots were fired.
“We did what we had to do,” Davis said of the attack.
Ahead of the trial, Nevada judge Carli Kierny ruled that the recording could be used as evidence. Davis’ lawyers had argued that the interview was confidential and that investigators explicitly promised not to use it against him. Prosecutors argued that Davis had forfeited that protection by later repeating versions of the account publicly, including in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend.
Davis’ defence attorney Michael Sanft maintains that Davis fabricated the accounts for personal advantage, entertainment and money. He has also argued that investigators did not charge his client after the 2008 interview because they did not consider his story credible or find sufficient evidence to corroborate it.
During his opening statement, Sanft described the prosecution’s version of events as “fiction” and told jurors that Davis’ previous claims emerged from a “biased, sloppy and incomplete” investigation.
The trial began on Monday (August 17), with prosecutors arguing that the attack was retaliation for Shakur and members of his entourage beating Anderson at the MGM Grand hours earlier.
Former Mob Piru Bloods member James ‘Mob James’ McDonald subsequently resisted questions about who was responsible for the shooting, telling the court that he did not want to send Davis to prison.
Shakur was shot multiple times after the Cadillac pulled alongside Knight’s car near the Las Vegas Strip. He died from his injuries six days later, aged 25, while Knight survived with minor injuries.
The trial is expected to continue for several more weeks.
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