Despite a recent confession by a former gang member regarding the shooting death of Tupac Shakur, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said the case remains open.
The iconic rapper was targeted in a drive-by shooting in September of 1996. After six days in the hospital, he passed away. His death inspired countless theories over the years, but many believe the shooting was related to the unchecked gang war between Shakur’s Bloods and the Crips.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Back in February, a member of the Crips confessed on camera to being involved in Shakur’s death. Duane Keith Davis — also known as Keefe D — made an appearance on BET docuseries Death Row Chronicles, and claimed he knows who killed the rapper.
Though Keefe wouldn’t reveal the person’s identity because of “street code,” he didn’t deny that his late nephew and former suspect Orlando Anderson could have fired the four bullets that killed Shakur, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
According to Keffe D, the fatal shots came from the back of his car, where Anderson and another friend were seated.
“People have been pursuing me for 20 years, I’m coming out now because I have cancer, and I have nothing else to lose,” Keffe D said of his decision to speak out on the BET show. “All I care about now is the truth.”
According to Keefe D, Shakur was standing up in the car, his upper body emerging through the sun roof. He was apparently waving to a gang of adoring girls in the car behind him. When they spotted the star, Davis and his friends made a U-turn to go after him.
“All the chicks was like, ‘Tupac! Tupac!’” Davis said. “He was like ‘Hey!’ like a celebrity, like he was in a parade.”
In previous interviews with police, Keefe D claimed Anderson was the shooter. Prior to his death, Anderson denied pulling the trigger.
Keffe D’s revelations caused fans to create a change.org petition urging the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to seek justice in Tupac’s murder, but officials say the shooting “remains an open homicide case.”
“We are aware of the statements made in a BET interview regarding the Tupac case. As a result of those statements we have spent the last several months reviewing the case in its entirety,” the LVMPD said in a statement to Fox 5 Vegas. “Various reports that an arrest warrant is about to be submitted are inaccurate. This case still remains an open homicide case.”
Davis’s recollection matches the details of the crime scene flawlessly. He said that he and his friends pulled up next to Shakur at a red light, at which point someone in the backseat fired four shots at the rapper. They drove away when they saw that he had been hit.
As for who fired the shots, Davis would not say.
