Las Vegas, Platinum Hotel 01 — Credit: When reusing, please credit me as author: Adam Kliczek, http://memoriesstay.com (CC-BY-SA-3.0) If you use my image on your website, please send me an email with webpage adress. Contact me at: adam.kliczekgmail.com pl en +/− pl en +/− · CC BY-SA 3.0
On the night of September 7, 1996, Tupac Shakur, a 25-year-old American rapper, was riding as a passenger in a car driven by Death Row Records founder Suge Knight when the vehicle stopped at a red light at East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane in Paradise, Nevada. A white Cadillac pulled alongside and a shooter in the back seat fired a .40-caliber Glock 22 pistol into the car. Shakur was struck four times — twice in the chest, once in the arm, and once in the thigh — while Knight was grazed by bullet fragmentation. Shakur died six days later, on September 13, 1996, at University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, after his mother, Afeni Shakur, made the decision to cease further medical treatment following respiratory failure and cardiac arrest.
Earlier that evening, Shakur and Knight had attended a boxing match at the MGM Grand, after which Shakur was involved in an assault on Orlando Anderson, a member of the South Side Compton Crips, in the hotel lobby. Anderson was later suspected in the murder but denied involvement and was never charged; he was killed in an unrelated gang shootout in 1998. The shooting is reported to have precipitated a period of gang violence between the South Side Compton Crips and Mob Piru Bloods in Compton, resulting in multiple shootings and deaths in the days that followed.
The investigation, led by Las Vegas police, stalled for years amid reported lack of cooperation from Shakur's entourage and Knight. A 2002 Los Angeles Times investigative series by reporter Chuck Philips concluded that the South Side Crips carried out the shooting to avenge Anderson's beating, and that Las Vegas police had made significant investigative missteps, including failing to follow up on witnesses and leads. Over subsequent years, various individuals — including Death Row associates and, in a 2018 documentary, Duane "Keefe D" Davis, Anderson's uncle — offered accounts placing themselves or others at or near the scene, though the identity of the shooter remained publicly unconfirmed for years.
On September 29, 2023, following a search of a Henderson, Nevada home in July 2023, Duane "Keefe D" Davis was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in Shakur's death, based on a grand jury indictment. Davis pleaded not guilty in November 2023. Prosecutors confirmed they would not seek the death penalty. Davis's trial has been rescheduled multiple times, most recently to August 2026, and as of late 2025 he remains incarcerated, separately serving a sentence for a jailhouse fight conviction unrelated to the Shakur case. During grand jury proceedings, a gang affiliate testified that another individual, not Anderson, may have fired the fatal shots, though Davis has been charged with murder in connection with the case.
East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane, Paradise, Nevada
Case status
ongoing
Case timeline
1996-09-07
Tupac Shakur is shot four times in a drive-by shooting at East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane in Paradise, Nevada; Suge Knight is grazed by fragmentation.
1996-09-09
Gang violence between the South Side Compton Crips and Mob Piru Bloods erupts in Compton following the shooting.
1996-09-13
Tupac Shakur dies of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest at University Medical Center of Southern Nevada.
1996-10-02
300 police officers conduct raids on homes of known gang members in Compton, leading to Orlando Anderson's arrest in connection with gang warfare.
1996-11
Witness Yaki Kadafi is fatally shot in Irvington, New Jersey.
1998
Orlando Anderson, a suspect in the shooting, is killed in an unrelated gang shootout.
2002
The Los Angeles Times publishes Chuck Philips's two-part investigative series 'Who Killed Tupac Shakur?'
2018
USA Network documentary Unsolved airs, featuring Duane 'Keefe D' Davis's account of being in the car during the shooting.
2023-07-18
Las Vegas police execute a search warrant at a Henderson, Nevada home belonging to Duane Davis's wife in connection with the murder investigation.
2023-09-29
Duane 'Keefe D' Davis is arrested and charged with first-degree murder following a grand jury indictment.
2023-11-02
Davis pleads not guilty in Las Vegas.
2024-01-09
Davis is granted $750,000 bail and house arrest during a court status check, though he remains incarcerated.
2025-04-09
A jury convicts Davis of battery by a prisoner and challenges to fight in an unrelated jailhouse case.
2025-09-03
Davis is sentenced to 16 to 40 months for the jailhouse fight conviction.
2025-11-18
Davis's murder trial is delayed to August 10, 2026.
Best coverage
Titles and descriptions are the creators’ own and may not reflect current legal status; see the dossier above for sourced case facts.
VIDEO
Kendall Rae / 32 min
Unsolved: What Really Happened To Tupac Shakur & Biggie Smalls? | Part 1
People
Orlando Anderson
CHARGED
Crips gang member suspected in the murder; denied involvement and was never charged with a crime related to the shooting; killed in an unrelated gang shootout in 1998
Duane "Keefe D" Davis
CHARGED
Indicted by a grand jury and arrested September 29, 2023, on a charge of first-degree murder in Shakur's death; pleaded not guilty; trial pending as of late 2025
Tupac Shakur
VICTIM
25-year-old rapper fatally shot on September 7, 1996; died September 13, 1996
Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.
Archival records
archival location
Las Vegas, Platinum Hotel 01
Credit: When reusing, please credit me as author: Adam Kliczek, http://memoriesstay.com (CC-BY-SA-3.0) If you use my image on your website, please send me an email with webpage adress. Contact me at: adam.kliczekgmail.com pl en +/− pl en +/− · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Rapper Tupac Shakur, 25, was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting in Paradise, Nevada, on September 7, 1996, and died six days later. The case went unsolved for decades until Duane "Keefe D" Davis was indicted and arrested in September 2023 and charged with first-degree murder; his trial is pending.
Where did the killing happen?
East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane, Paradise, Nevada.
