Las Vegas police arrested a man on suspicion of murder in the shooting of hip-hop star Tupac Shakur, who was killed in the city nearly three decades ago, the Associated Press reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis was arrested early Friday morning, although the exact charge or charges were not immediately clear, according to the AP, which said an indictment was expected later on Friday.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment to confirm the reports.
Tupac was wounded in a drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip on Sept. 7, 1996. He died in a hospital six days later, at the age of 25.
Davis has admitted in interviews and in his 2019 tell-all memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” that he was in the Cadillac from which the gunfire erupted during the shooting, the AP said.
In July, police said they had searched a house outside of Las Vegas in connection with Tupac’s killing.
Tupac was an award-winning rapper, activist, and actor who sold more than 75 million records worldwide.
He was best known for raw lyrics laced with violence, sex, and profanity describing life in the ghetto. His album “All Eyez on Me,” released shortly before his death, celebrated his own outlaw image.
Beloved by his fans and detested by politicians for songs that celebrated violence and misogyny, Shakur was no stranger to trouble, having spent much of his last two and a half years in court, prison, or hospitals.
The violent last chapter in his life came when the rap star and friends were driving to a nightclub in a convoy after watching the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon world heavyweight title fight in Las Vegas.
When the black BMW Shakur was riding in stopped at a traffic light, a white Cadillac pulled up alongside, and a gunman inside fired at least nine bullets, apparently aimed at the passenger seat where Shakur was sitting. The singer and actor were hit four times.
Marion “Suge” Knight, co-founder of Los Angeles-based Death Row Records, which produced Shakur’s records, was driving the BMW. He was grazed in the head by a bullet fragment but suffered only minor injuries.
Tupac became more popular in death than in life. In 2017, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
