A witness who admitted he bears no affection for the defendant nonetheless told a Las Vegas courtroom on Tuesday that he did not want to help send him to prison — capturing the tense and conflicted atmosphere surrounding one of America's longest-running cold cases. Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips street gang, is on trial for allegedly orchestrating the September 1996 drive-by shooting that killed rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas at the age of 25. Davis is not accused of pulling the trigger but faces a charge of murder with a deadly weapon with intent to promote or assist a criminal gang, which carries a potential life sentence. He has pleaded not guilty.
The second day of testimony featured a striking moment when Mob Piru gang member and former Death Row Records enforcer Frank McDonald took the stand. McDonald — part of a rival Bloods-affiliated set and a man who acknowledged mutual hostility with Davis — repeatedly resisted questions from the defence, raising his voice and arms in frustration. Looking directly at Davis, he said: "I don't want to send him to prison, even though we don't like each other." He explained that those present at the shooting had quickly communicated who was responsible, and that Davis and his nephew Orlando Anderson subsequently became targets in the gang war that followed Shakur's death. The exchange illustrated the enduring grip of street codes dating back to the 1990s, when gangs were deeply entangled with the hip-hop scene and cooperation with police was considered a serious transgression — a culture Shakur himself embodied when, wounded in an ambulance after the shooting, he told an attending officer simply: "We'll take care of it."
Earlier in the day, forensic pathologist Dr. Lisa Gavin described the fatal wounds Shakur sustained. Jurors were shown autopsy photographs, prompting some of Shakur's family members to leave the courtroom. Shakur was struck by multiple bullets; one passed through his chest and collapsed a lung, which doctors ultimately removed in an attempt to save his life. Additional bullets damaged his intestines and other organs. He died in hospital six days after the shooting on 7 September 1996. Shakur's cousin Zayd Akinyela, who remained in court for the testimony, told reporters outside that witnessing the details helped him grieve. "A lot of people don't get to grieve until they understand what happened to their loved one," he said.
Jurors also viewed surveillance footage from the MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas showing a group of men beating and kicking a figure on the ground — identified by prosecutors as Orlando Anderson, Davis's nephew. The footage showed Shakur and his entourage moving quickly through the building shortly afterwards. Prosecutors allege that hours later, Davis arranged for a white Cadillac carrying himself, Anderson, and two other men to intercept a BMW carrying Shakur and hip-hop mogul Marion "Suge" Knight, and that Davis passed a firearm to Anderson, who opened fire. The defence, led by attorney Michael Sanft, has called the prosecution's narrative "fiction," arguing that Davis's self-incriminating statements — made in police interviews and a 2019 memoir titled Compton Street Legend — were exaggerated or fabricated to sell books and should not be treated as confessions.
The case came to life largely because of Davis's own public statements over the years, which prosecutors argue voided a prior immunity arrangement he had with law enforcement. Also testifying Tuesday was Reggie Wright Jr., a former member of Shakur's security detail, whom Davis had pointed to as a possible alternative suspect in pre-trial remarks. Shakur, born in New York in 1971 and raised partly in northern California, remains one of the most celebrated figures in hip-hop history, with more than 75 million records sold worldwide and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. The trial, which involves a witness list of more than 200 names, is expected to continue for several weeks.