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A former California gang leader has pleaded not guilty to orchestrating rapper Tupac Shakur’s drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996.

Duane Keith “Keffe D” Davis, 60, is the only person still alive who was in the vehicle from which shots were fired.

He is also the only person ever charged in connection with the case.

The charges against him were prompted by his own descriptions in recent years about orchestrating the deadly attack, prosecutors said.

Man Arrested In Connection with the 1996 Murder Of Tupac Shakur** Tupac Shakur, 1993, credit Michael Ferguson/MediaPunch/IPx
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Tupac Shakur in 1993 Pic: Michael Ferguson/MediaPunch/IPx

The judge said prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty, but Davis could be jailed for life if convicted.

Attorney Ross Goodman, who represented Davis until he lost a legal bid that barred him from hiring a private lawyer, previously said prosecutors lack witnesses and key evidence, including a gun or vehicle, for the murder.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson declined to respond to Mr Goodman’s criticism of the evidence, saying that a jury will weigh the results of the police investigation.

More on Tupac Shakur

Read more:
Tupac: The story of a rapper ‘always meant for something great’

The suspect will appear in court again on Tuesday for the trial to be scheduled.

This booking photo provided by the Las Vegas Police Department shows Duane ...Keffe D... Davis, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, in Las Vegas. Davis was charged in the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur. (Las Vegas Police Department via AP)
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Duane Davis Pic: Las Vegas Police Department via AP

Davis, originally from Compton, California, was arrested on 29 September outside a home in a Las Vegas suburb.

He remains in custody without bail.

The indictment alleges Davis obtained and provided a gun to someone in the back seat of a Cadillac before the car-to-car gunfire killed Shakur and wounded rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight at an intersection just off the Las Vegas Strip.

Knight, now 58, is in prison in California, serving a 28-year sentence for the death of a Compton businessman in 2015.

Court-released image of Tupac and Knight in the car the pair were shot in
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Court-released image of Tupac and Knight in the car the pair were shot in

Shakur died a week after the shooting, aged 25. The identity of his murderer remains one of hip-hop music’s most enduring mysteries.

Prosecutors allege his killing in Las Vegas came out of competition between East Coast members of a Bloods gang sect and West Coast groups of a Crips sect, including Davis, for dominance in a musical genre dubbed “gangsta rap”.

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What happened to rapper Tupac Shakur?

The grand jury was told the shooting was retaliation for an earlier fight at a Las Vegas casino involving Shakur and Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson.

Prosecutors said Davis implicated himself in the killing in multiple interviews and a 2019 tell-all memoir that described his life leading a Crips sect in Compton.

Davis has said he obtained a .40-calibre handgun and handed it to Anderson, a member of Davis’ gang, in the back seat of a Cadillac, though he didn’t identify Anderson as the shooter.

Anderson, then 22, denied involvement in Shakur’s killing and died two years later in a separate shooting in Compton. The other back seat passenger and the driver of the Cadillac are also dead.

Shakur is largely considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time. He had five number one albums, was nominated for six Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

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How much of the White House is Trump demolishing?

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How much of the White House is Trump demolishing?

👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈 

Donald Trump begins bulldozing much of the White House as his plans to build a mega ballroom begin – without planning permission, nor true clarity as to how it’s all being funded.

There are aesthetic questions, historical questions and ethical questions. We dig into what they are.

And – who is the young Democratic socialist about to become New York City’s first Muslim mayor? We tell you everything you need to know about Zohran Mamdani.

You can also watch all episodes on our YouTube channel – and watch David Blevins’ digital video on the White House ballroom here.

Email us on trump100@sky.uk with your comments and questions.

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Furious Trump cancels ‘all trade negotiations’ with Canada after TV advert

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Furious Trump cancels 'all trade negotiations' with Canada after TV advert

Analysis: Escalation will test Trump and Carney’s relationship

Trump turning once again on America’s closest ally Canada just proves how flippant his trade decisions are.

The smooth-talking confidence of Prime Minister Mark Carney persuaded Canadians to vote for him in this year’s election.

He certainly ran on a pitch to stand up to Trump, but his recent dealings with the US president have largely been diplomatic and cordial.

Carney was last in the Oval Office just over two weeks ago, and the pair laughed off Trump’s obsession with Canada becoming the “51st state”.

But now it’s a single advert from the government of Ontario that has triggered Trump to pause all trade talks between the two, calling its anti-tariff stance “egregious” on his social media platform Truth Social.

The advert uses Ronald Reagan’s voice to attack tariff policy – arguing trade barriers “hurt every American worker and consumer… markets shrink, and collapse, businesses and industries shut down and millions of people lose their jobs”.

But now, the Ronald Reagan Foundation has said the ad “misrepresents” his words – and they did not give their permission to use it.

Mere hours before Trump’s post, Carney was prodding Trump jokingly to bet on the outcome of the baseball World Series.

Given this latest escalation by the President tonight, their next interaction will be far from a laughing matter.

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Putin criticises Trump’s sanctions on oil firms – as Russian jets ‘briefly enter NATO airspace’

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Putin criticises Trump's sanctions on oil firms - as Russian jets 'briefly enter NATO airspace'

Vladimir Putin has described Donald Trump’s sanctions against two major oil firms as an “unfriendly act”.

However, the Russian president has insisted the tightened restrictions won’t affect the nation’s economy, a claim widely contradicted by most analysts.

In a major policy shift, Mr Trump imposed sanctions against Rosneft and Lukoil – Russia’s biggest oil companies – on Wednesday.

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Will US sanctions on Russian oil hurt the Kremlin?

The White House said this was because of “Russia’s lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine”.

Putin has now warned the move could disrupt the global oil markets, and lead to higher prices for consumers worldwide.

A meeting between the two leaders had been proposed in Budapest, but Mr Trump said he had decided to cancel the talks because “it didn’t feel right to me”.

Speaking from the Oval Office, he had told reporters: “I have good conversations. And then, they don’t go anywhere. They just don’t go anywhere.”

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Giving a speech in Moscow yesterday, Putin said “dialogue is always better than war” – but warned that Russia will never bow to pressure from abroad.

Earlier, his long-term ally Dmitry Medvedev had described Mr Trump as a “talkative peacemaker” who had now “fully embarked on the warpath against Russia”.

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Why did Trump sanction Russian oil?

Oil prices have witnessed a sizeable jump since the sanctions were announced, with Brent crude rising by 5% – the biggest daily percentage gains since the middle of June.

In other developments, Lithuania has claimed that two Russian military aircraft briefly entered its airspace yesterday.

A Su-30 fighter and Il-78 refuelling tanker were in the NATO member’s territory for 18 seconds, and Spanish jets were scrambled in response to the incident.

Russia’s defence ministry denied this – and said its planes did not violate the borders of any other country during a “training flight” in the Kaliningrad region.

Read more:
Sanctions could have chilling effect on market

How could new sanctions impact the UK?

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Zelenskyy tells Sky News ‘ceasefire is still possible’

Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended a European Council summit in Brussels to discuss the war in Ukraine – and said the meeting had delivered “good results”.

He said Ukraine had secured political support for frozen Russian assets and “their maximum use” to defend against Russian aggression, adding the EU would “work out all the necessary details”.

Mr Zelenskyy thanked the bloc for approving its 19th sanctions package against Russia earlier today, and work was already beginning on a 20th.

European leaders are going to arrive in London later today for a “critical” meeting of the “Coalition of the Willing” – with the goal of discussing “how they can pile pressure on Putin as he continues to kill innocent civilians with indiscriminate attacks across Ukraine”.

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How will the Russian oil sanctions affect petrol costs?

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “The only person involved in this conflict who does not want to stop the war is President Putin, and his depraved strikes on young children in a nursery this week make that crystal clear.

“Time and again we offer Putin the chance to end his needless invasion, to stop the killing and recall his troops, but he repeatedly rejects those proposals and any chance of peace.

“From the battlefield to the global markets, as Putin continues to commit atrocities in Ukraine we must ratchet up the pressure on Russia and build on President Trump’s decisive action.”

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