Opening Statements Begin in Las Vegas Trial for Accused Killer of Rapper Tupac Shakur

A 1996 photo of rapper Tupac Shakur and Marion 'Suge' Knight is displayed during the Duane Davis murder trial related to the 1996 killing of rapper Shakur on August 17, 2026, at the Clark County District Court at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, the United States.

Rapper Tupac Shakur was killed in an act of revenge ordered by a gang leader, a prosecutor told jurors as one of the United States’ most anticipated trials got under way in Las Vegas, Nevada. Prosecutor Binu Palal told jurors that former street gang leader Duane Davis masterminded the 1996 drive-by shooting of famed hip-hop star Tupac Shakur in retribution for the beating of his nephew during opening statements in the long-unsolved murder trial.

Duane Davis, 63, is facing charges for allegedly coordinating the drive-by shooting that killed Shakur, known by the stage name 2Pac, near the Las Vegas Strip area in Paradise, Nevada, some three decades ago. Prosecutors allege Davis was the on-the-ground commander of the effort to kill Tupac. The 25-year-old California-based rapper quickly became an icon of the hip-hop genre during a short career in the 1990s, releasing several Billboard-topping albums during his lifetime and posthumously.

Davis was charged in Nevada’s Clark County with a single count of murder using a deadly weapon and with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He has pleaded not guilty. The trial before Judge Carli Kierny is expected to last up to six weeks, following jury selection last week. The proceedings may feature testimony from Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight, a former rap mogul who was with Shakur the night he was slain and is now serving a 28-year prison sentence on an unrelated voluntary manslaughter conviction.

US prosecutors are aiming to prove it was Davis who orchestrated Tupac’s killing by supplying the gun, though they are not alleging he pulled the trigger. Police noted after the 2023 arrest of Davis that he had been a longtime suspect, but investigators previously lacked sufficient admissible evidence until he began self-implicating via public statements.

Defence lawyer Michael Sandt countered that after 30 years, investigators still possess very little evidence to prove their case, asking the jury to weigh whether the prosecution's claims are truth or fiction. Authorities described Davis as the shot caller of a plot to avenge the beating of his nephew by Shakur and members of his entourage inside the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996.

The violent clash stemmed from hostility between two Los Angeles-area street gangs: the South Side Compton Crips, led by Davis, and Mob Piru, associated with Knight and Death Row Records. The groups were in Las Vegas to attend a heavyweight title boxing match between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon. Davis allegedly obtained the murder weapon and handed it off to two other men in a white Cadillac, leading to the fatal shooting where Shakur was struck four times and died six days later, while Knight suffered a minor wound.