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Who is Duane 'Keffe D' Davis? Suspect in Tupac Shakur's drive-by shooting arrested on murder charge in LA

Authorities are looking for 'trophies' related to the killing of legendary artist Tupac Shakur at a well-known gangster's residence

Update: Duane "Keffe D" Davis, long suspected to be a key player in the 1996 assassination of legendary rapper Tupac Shakur, was arrested. 

During a press conference and subsequent court proceedings on Friday, September 29, authorities outlined Davis's alleged role not as the gunman but as the ringleader in the meticulously planned murder,

Davis is the last living suspect in the case and is the uncle of Orlando Anderson, who was another suspect in the rapper's shooting. 

Anderson was killed in a gang-related shootout in 1998.

Davis was officially charged with murder marking a significant breakthrough in the case that had not been solved for the past 27 years. 

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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA: Authorities may have been looking for a "trophy" when they searched a home linked to the continuing Tupac Shakur murder investigation. In the most recent development in the unsolved murder investigation, homicide officers were given a warrant by a judge to examine a home in Henderson, Las Vegas, which sources told The US Sun is connected to Compton Crip gang head Keefe D.

"A search warrant was served in Henderson, Nevada on July 17, 2023, as part of the ongoing Tupac Shakur homicide investigation," per a statement from the police made to The US Sun on Tuesday, July 18. According to sources, detectives believe the location may include evidence from the night that Suge Knight hid at the scene when Tupac was shot dead while driving.

Who is Keefe D?

The 60-year-old Keefe D (real name: Duane Keith Davis) is a member of the California gang, South Side Compton Crips. According to online records, Keefe is married to Paula Clemons, whose house on Maple Shade Street was searched on Monday night as part of the ongoing investigation into Tupac's murder. Keefe, a boyhood buddy of legendary N.W.A. vocalist Eazy-E, is suspected of being involved in Tupac's killing.

In interviews and a book titled 'Compton Street Legend,' Keefe has previously admitted to his involvement in the shooting of Tupac, alleging he was in the front of the White Cadillac car on September 7, 1996, when his nephew Orlando Anderson shot Tupac close to the Las Vegas Strip. Again, during the 2018 filming of the 10-part Netflix docuseries 'Unsolved, the Tupac and Biggie Murders,' Keefe revealed that his own nephew was the shooter and was present in the car at the time. Earlier, Keefe was featured in the film 'Death Row Chronicles,' where he admitted that he wanted to finally tell everyone what happened that September night. The former gangster is currently battling cancer.

Despite a frantic 25-year search for it, the White Cadillac car carrying the four men on the hunt for Tupac also disappeared that night. According to TMZ, a gun was discovered in a backyard in Compton, California, in 1998. It was initially assumed to be the murder weapon. Investigators presumably ruled it out and destroyed the weapon following tests on it, per The Sun. Thus, it is still claimed that the actual murder weapon, the lethal Glock revolver gun, is still missing.

'Whatever life has got in store for me I’m going to handle it'

Keefe D boasted earlier this year that he would not mind serving time in prison for killing Tupac. "Whatever life has got in store for me I’m going to handle it dude. I’m a God-fearing man, whatever cards life I’ve got to deal with I’m going to handle," he declared on the Vlad TV YouTube channel. "I’m not going to go out there and cut my wrists or kill myself or nothing like that. If they want to go put me in jail for life, that’s just something I’ve got to do dude."

The mobster also made a shocking allegation in which he claimed FBI officials informed him that $1 million was paid for the famed rapper's murder by another well-known hip-hop figure and then taken by an intermediary. Following Keefe's statements, a source with knowledge of the case accused Las Vegas police of ignoring evidence. The source claimed that despite Keefe's most recent admission, authorities had failed to keep up with FBI agents and had not interrogated Keefe.

'This warrant has been brewing for a long time'

According to police sources who spoke to 8newsnow, the warrant allegedly involves former Crips gang member Keefe D, whose wife Clemons is identified as an owner of the Las Vegas residence, and the police may be searching for these "trophies" inside Clemons' residence. Nearly 30 years later, the case is still unresolved, but the Las Vegas grand jury is now receiving evidence.

"This warrant has been brewing for a long time," said the source. "The detectives have felt that they had reasonable cause to examine just what may be left over from that night. It is normal in the ‘streets’ for gangsters to keep trophies or items linked to their biggest moments. Nothing comes bigger than Tupac’s murder, so there may be items kept in the home which were relevant. Certainly if the gun were to be there then it would be a huge deal. Even a shell casing could be significant. No-one quite knows what is out there from the murder, because it has been over 25 years."

One block off the Las Vegas Strip, at the MGM Grand Plaza, Tupac, 25, was slain in September 1996 after leaving a fight featuring Mike Tyson. He was later taken to a hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he died on September 13, 1996. Tupac was an infamous American rapper and actor. There still remain several unanswered conspiracy theories concerning the rapper's death as of this writing.

The killing of Tupac was a major international story and is still the subject of speculation. Some people even assert that the rapper is still alive. Several books and movies have been written on the incident, and Tupac even has a museum dedicated to him in New York City.