Tupac Shakur: Las Vegas police remove computers and hard drives from home raided in connection to 1996 murder
Keefe D, a former Southside Compton Crips gang member, has previously claimed to have been present at Tupac’s murder and knows who pulled the trigger
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Las Vegas police removed five computers, tablets and an iPhone among other items from the Nevada home raided in connection to the unsolved 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur.
The search warrant named Duane Keith Davis, who has previously said he witnessed the rapper murder and who is the uncle of Orlando Anderson, the late main suspect in the killing.
The warrant, which was obtained by CNN, states that investigators searched for “items that tend to show evidence of motive and/or the identity of the perpetrator such as photographs or undeveloped film, insurance policies and letters, address and telephone records, diaries, and other documents…”
An affidavit filed to obtain the warrant states that police were looking for “notes, writings, ledgers, and other handwritten or typed documents concerning television shows, documentaries, YouTube episodes, book manuscripts, and movies concerning the murder of Tupac Shakur.”
In addition to the electronics, investigators left the Henderson home with USB and hard drives, photographs, “purported marijuana,” a copy of Vibe magazine featuring Tupac, and a copy of the Compton Street Legends book written by Keffe D with Yusuf Jah.
Mr Davis, who was a member of the South Side Compton Crips gang, is known by the nicknames Keefe D, Keefy D and Keffe D.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police confirmed on Tuesday that officers had executed a search warrant at a property in nearby Henderson, Nevada, as part of the ongoing investigation into the deadly drive-by shooting of the hip-hop star.
“LVMPD can confirm a search warrant was served in Henderson, Nevada on July 17, 2023, as part of the ongoing Tupac Shakur homicide investigation,” the department said.
“We will have no further comment at this time.”
Footage of the raid shows multiple police vehicles on the scene of the quiet residential street in the dark on Monday night as investigators carried out the search.
The location of the raid – and what information led to the sudden development almost three decades on from Tupac’s murder – has not been officially confirmed by authorities.
But, records reviewed by local paper The Las Vegas Review-Journal reveal that the home on Maple Shade Street belongs to 58-year-old Paula Clemons – the wife of Duane “Keefe D” Davis.
Keefe D, a 60-year-old former Southside Compton Crips gang member, has previously claimed to have been present at Tupac’s murder and knows who pulled the trigger.
In both the 2018 Netflix documentary “Unsolved: The Tupac and Biggie Murders” and in his book Compton Street Legend which he published in 2019, Keffe D claimed that his nephew Orlando Anderson fatally shot Tupac – and that he was in the car with him when he opened fire.
“Tupac made an erratic move and began to reach down beneath his seat,” he writes in the book.
“It was the first and only time in my life that I could relate to the police command, ‘Keep your hands where I can see them.’ Instead, Pac pulled out a strap, and that’s when the fireworks started.
“One of my guys from the back seat grabbed the Glock and started bustin’ back.”
Tupac was killed in a drive-by shooting while he sat in a car at an intersection near the Las Vegas strip on 7 September 1996.
Earlier that night, Tupac had gone to watch a Mike Tyson boxing match at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino on the strip with Suge Knight, the boss of his record label Death Row Records.
In the lobby of the hotel, Tupac attacked gangland rival Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson in a beating that was captured on surveillance footage.
On leaving the MGM Grand, Tupac and Knight drove along the strip in their BMW and stopped at a red light at an intersection.
A white Cadillac pulled up beside them and opened fire.
Tupac was shot four times with one of the bullets piercing his lung. He died six days later in hospital.
Despite several witnesses on the scene of the shooting, no arrests have ever been made and it remains a mystery.
Anderson has long been the prime suspect – on suspicion of shooting Tupac out of revenge for the attack in the hotel.
However, Anderson denied any involvement in the murder and was also killed two years later in a gang-related shooting in 1998.
Sources told Las Vegas News8 that the search warrant executed this week involved Keffe D but it is not clear what may have led to the development in the case almost three decades on from Tupac’s murder.
Investigators searched the property for personal notes, photos and other documents related to Tupac’s death, the source said.
Neighbours of the property said that they saw a man and a woman step outside of the house surrounded by police, place their hands behind their heads and slowly walk backwards toward the officers.
“There were cruisers and SWAT vehicles. They had lights shining on the house,” Don Sansouci told The Associated Press.
He said he doesn’t know the people who live in the home but described the area as “a nice, quiet cul-de-sac neighbourhood” where most residents keep to themselves.
It’s not immediately known if Keefe D has a lawyer who can comment on his behalf.