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A14 PEOPLE / ARTS
Tuesday 3 OcTOber 2023

Arrest in Tupac Shakur killing stemmed from Biggie Smalls death

investigation

By Rio Yamat and Ken Ritter man, my brother, my moth-
Associated Press er’s son, my father’s son.”
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The first She gave no praise to
arrest in the 1996 slaying of the authorities who have
Tupac Shakur had its roots worked the case.
in the investigation of the “I know there’s been many
killing of Biggie Smalls. people who did not be-
The shooting deaths of the lieve that the murder of Tu-
two hip-hop luminaries and pac Shakur was important
rivals Shakur in Las Vegas to this police department,”
and Smalls in Los Angeles six Sheriff Kevin McMahill said
months later have always at a news conference Fri-
been culturally insepara- day. “I’m here to tell you,
ble, and one man, Duane that was simply not the
Keffe D. Davis, found him- case. It was not the case
self involved in both inves- back then, and it is not the
tigations. case today.”
On Friday, Davis was ar- He added, “every single
rested and charged with victim, every life that is lost
murder, with prosecutors is important and remains
saying he ordered and a priority to this police de-
masterminded the Shakur partment.
killing. On the night of Sept. 7,
Now retired Los Angeles po- 1996, Tupac Shakur and
lice detective Greg Kading Death Row Records found-
was assigned to investigate er Marion “Suge” Knight
the slaying of Smalls whose were in Las Vegas to watch
legal name was Christo- a Mike Tyson heavyweight
pher Wallace and in 2009 Rapper Tupac Shakur, left, and Death Row Records Chairman Marion Suge Knight, attend a voter title match.
interviewed Davis as a per- registration event in South Central Los Angeles, on Aug. 15, 1996. Outside the fight just after
son of interest in the case. (AP Photo/Frank Wiese/File) it ended, the men were
Davis had had been at the one of four suspects identi- scripts released Friday pro- involved in a brawl with
party at the Peterson Auto- fied early in the investiga- vide a view into the first Davis and his nephew, Or-
motive Museum that Wal- tion. He isn’t the accused month of grand jury pro- lando “Baby Lane” Ander-
lace had just left when he gunman but was described ceedings, which began son, with whom Shakur had
was shot. as the group’s ringleader in late July with testimony feuded previously.
Kading had helped build a by authorities at a news from former associates of Later that night, Shakur was
federal drug case against conference and in court. In Davis, friends of Shakur and sitting in a BMW that Knight
Davis to get leverage to Nevada a defendant can a slate of retired police of- was driving when a Cadil-
compel him to talk to Los be charged with a crime, ficers involved in the case lac pulled up next to them
Angeles police, who to including murder, if you early on. and gunfire erupted.
date have made no arrests help someone commit the Their testimony painted a Shakur was shot multiple
in the Wallace case. crime. picture for the jurors of a times and died a week lat-
“He confesses to his in- Davis, now 60, said in his deep, escalating rift be- er at the age of 25.
volvement in the Tupac memoir, “Compton Street tween Shakur’s music label Davis, in his memoir, said he
Shakur case, he gives all Legend,” that he provided Death Row Records and was in the front passenger
the details of how he and the gun used in the drive- Bad Boy Records, which seat of the Cadillac and
his co-conspirators killed by shooting. had ties to Davis and repre- This booking photo provided had slipped a gun into the
Tupac,” Kading recalled in Davis was arrested early Fri- sented Wallace. by the Las Vegas Police back seat, from where he
an interview Friday with The day while on a walk near “It started the whole West Department shows Duane said the shots were fired.
Associated Press. his home on the outskirts Coast/East Coast” rivalry “Keffe D” Davis, Friday, Sept. He implicated Anderson,
Davis, who had immunity of Las Vegas, hours before that primarily defined the 29, 2023, in Las Vegas. saying he was one of two
(Las Vegas Police
for what he said in his po- prosecutors announced in hip-hop scene during the Department via AP) people in the backseat.
lice interview but not what court that a Nevada grand mid-1990s, one of Davis’ Anderson died two years
he said outside it, went jury had indicted the self- former associates testified. iwa “Set” Shakur, the rap- later. He denied any in-
on to divulge many of the described “gangster” on Davis denied an interview per’s sister, described the volvement in Shakur’s
same details in documen- one count of murder with a request Friday from jail, and arrest as a victory, but in a death.
taries, on podcasts and in deadly weapon. He is due court records don’t list an measured tone. The rapper’s death came
a tell-all 2019 memoir that in court next week. attorney who can com- “This is no doubt a pivotal as his fourth solo album, “All
would give new life to the The grand jury also voted ment on his behalf. moment. The silence of the Eyez on Me,” remained on
Las Vegas police probe to add a sentencing en- Phone and text messages past 27 years surrounding the charts, with some 5 mil-
and help lead to his grand hancement to the murder to Davis and his wife on Fri- this case has spoken loud- lion copies sold.
jury indictment. charge for gang activity day and in the months raid- ly in our community,” she Nominated six times for a
“He has essentially talked that could add up to 20 ed their home in the nearby said. “It’s important to me Grammy Award, Shakur
himself right into jail,” Kad- additional years if he’s con- city of Henderson on July that the world, the country, is still largely considered
ing said. victed. 17 were not returned. the justice system, and our one of the most influential
Davis had long been Hundreds of pages of tran- In a statement Friday, Seky- people acknowledge the and versatile rappers of all
known to investigators as gravity of the passing of this time.q