Who killed Tupac? Everything we know about hip-hop’s greatest mystery

27 years after rap icon Tupac Shakur was fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, authorities say they’ve finally made a major breakthrough in the case. Last week, Duane “Keffe D” Davis was arrested in Nevada and charged with ordering Tupac’s murder in 1996.

The arrest, the first to ever be made in the case, could help to finally bring some resolution to one of the most enduring and controversial mysteries in the history of hip-hop. Here’s what we know about Tupac’s death – and what we still don’t.

How did Tupac die?

On 7 September 1996, Tupac Shakur and Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight were in the crowd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to see boxer Mike Tyson knock out his opponent Bruce Seldon in just one minute and 49 seconds.

As the pair left the fight, Travon Lane, an associate of Knight’s and a member of the Blood-affiliated MOB Pirus gang, spotted Orlando Anderson of the rival Southside Crips gang. Earlier that same year, Anderson had attempted to rob Lane in a Foot Locker in Lakewood, California. When Lane told Tupac about this incident, the rapper approached Anderson and punched him in the face. The ensuing fight, which was captured on CCTV, saw Knight and his associates join Shakur in beating and kicking Anderson.

Later that evening, as Tupac and Knight drove to Club 662, which Knight owned, a white Cadillac pulled alongside their car. Somebody sitting in the back of the Cadillac opened fire with a Glock 22, hitting Shakur four times. He died in hospital at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada six days later, at the age of just 25.

Who killed Tupac?

It is still uncertain who pulled the trigger that fateful night, but authorities now believe that it was Duane “Keffe D” Davis who ordered the hit. Last Friday, Davis was described as the ringleader of the group who killed Tupac. “Duane Davis was the shot caller for this group of individuals that committed this crime,” said Las Vegas police homicide Lt. Jason Johansson, “and he orchestrated the plan that was carried out.”

Davis is the uncle of Orlando Anderson, who had been assaulted that night at the MGM Grand. If Davis is indeed responsible for Tupac’s murder, it would seem to be a direct reprisal for the fight. Davis has long been known to authorities investigating the murder. In 2008, as part of a plea deal, Davis admitted to being in the white Cadillac that night and implicated Orlando Anderson himself as the shooter. By that time, Anderson was already dead, killed in a gang shooting in 1998.

Who was investigated for Tupac’s death?

Prior to the arrest of Davis last week, several hypotheses had been put forward to explain Tupac’s murder. In his 2002 documentary Biggie & Tupac, filmmaker Nick Broomfield presented a theory put together by late LAPD detective Russell Poole that Suge Knight may have orchestrated the hit himself because he owed Shakur $10m in royalties and couldn’t pay. Poole’s theory also implicated some of the same corrupt LAPD officers who were accused of bank robbery, unprovoked shootings and dealing narcotics in what became known as the Rampart scandal.

Another theory held that Sean “P Diddy” Combs, head of Death Row’s East Coast rivals Bad Boy Records, arranged the shooting and that Knight had also been an intended target. Diddy has always strongly denied this. In 2018, Eminem referenced the rumour on his Machine Gun Kelly diss-track ‘Kill Shot’, rapping: “But, Kells, the day you put out a hit’s the day Diddy admits/That he put the hit out that got Pac killed.” However, later in the same song Eminem walks back the controversial allegation, adding: “You know I’m just playing Diddy / You know I love you.”

What are the biggest Tupac conspiracy theories? 

Six months after Tupac’s death in Las Vegas, fellow rap icon Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace was also shot dead. Conspiracy theories soon attempted to link the two murders, and investigative reporter Chuck Phillips alleged in a 2002 LA Times article that Biggie had agreed to pay a $1m bounty for Tupac’s death after becoming enraged when the rapper bragged about sleeping with Biggie’s wife Faith Evans on his 1996 track ‘Hit ‘Em Up’. Wallace’s family have always denied he had any involvement in Tupac’s death.

A wilder conspiracy theory holds that Tupac is still alive and well. In 2018 a man named Michael Nice, who claimed to have been part of the rapper’s security team, said that he helped Tupac stage the drive-by shooting himself in order to fake his own death and flee to Cuba. An even more outlandish theory claims that Tupac is in fact still alive but living under CIA protection as a government witness. In 2014, the agency made the unusual step of denying the rumour by tweeting out: “No, we don’t know where Tupac is.”

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