Police have arrested a 60-year-old man in the 1996 Las Vegas murder of rapper Tupac Shakur.
Duane Keith Davis was taken into custody on Friday in connection with Shakur's death. Davis was indicted by a grand jury on a charge of open murder with a deadly weapon that includes a gang enhancement, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said at a press conference hours after the arrest.
Davis will appear in court for arraignment within the next several days, Wolfson said.
"Duane Davis was the shot-caller for this group of individuals that committed this crime and he orchestrated the plan that was carried out to commit this crime," Jason Johansson, homicide lieutenant with the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, said during the press conference.
Davis, whose street name is Keffe D., told detectives with a Los Angeles Police Department task force in 2008, that his nephew, Orlando Anderson, shot Shakur from the backseat of a white Cadillac. Greg Kading, then an LAPD homicide detective, said Davis agreed to the proffer after the DEA built a drug case against Davis and his family.
The proffer could not be used against Davis in court. Davis, according to a recording of the interview, said he handed his nephew the gun to shoot Shakur.
In the years since the proffer, Davis has done a number of interviews where he described what happened the night Shakur was killed. Police cited his own statements as part of the evidence against him in the new indictment.
Anderson can't be prosecuted because he was shot and killed in 1997. Police have long suspected Anderson was the shooter.
Mike Dorsey, who directed "Murder Rap: Inside the Biggie and Tupac Murders" told Law&Crime recently that he expected an arrest.
"I think that they are going to close this case. I think that there is very likely going to be an indictment," Dorsey said.
Last July, Las Vegas Metro Police executed a search warrant on Davis' home in Henderson. Officers seized a number of electronic devices including iPads and computers, a "Vibe" magazine with Shakur on the cover, copies of Davis' book, "Compton Street Legend" and .40 caliber ammunition.
Shakur was shot with .40 caliber bullets. It's not clear whether the rounds found in Davis' home are the same ammunition used to kill Shakur.
Davis' self-published book is considered a confession to what happened that night. He has also granted several interviews to YouTube channels and to BET's "Death Row Chronicles" in which he discussed the shooting of Tupac Shakur and Suge Knight.
An LVMPD spokesperson would only confirm that a search warrant related to Shakur's death was executed on July 17. No further details were provided.
This story will be updated
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