Keefe D named his nephew as Tupac’s shooter in 2008 police interview played at trial

The decades-old recording has become central evidence as Duane Davis faces trial for Tupac Shakur’s 1996 killing.

Jurors in Duane “Keffe D” Davis’ murder trial heard a 2008 police interview in which he said his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, fired the shots that killed Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas. The 2008 interview is now central evidence in a case that follows Davis’ 2023 arrest and years of questions about who witnessed Shakur’s fatal shooting.

Rolling Stone reported that prosecutors played the recorded interview Thursday during the fourth day of Davis’ trial. Davis told investigators he was riding in the front passenger seat of a white Cadillac with Anderson and two other men when the car pulled alongside the BMW carrying Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight.

Davis said he had a gun but could not get a clear shot from his side of the vehicle. He told investigators he passed the weapon toward the back seat, where Anderson took it and opened fire.

“If we would have been on my side, I would have blasted,” Davis said in the recording.

The interview took place Dec. 18, 2008, while Los Angeles police were investigating the 1997 killing of Christopher “The Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace and potential drug charges involving Davis. Former LAPD detective Daryn Dupree testified that Davis unexpectedly told investigators he had been involved in “the other one,” referring to Shakur’s killing.

The Dec. 18 meeting was a recorded proffer session in which detectives told Davis his statements could not be used against him. Prosecutors argue that protection did not amount to immunity and that Davis later made the information usable by repeating details publicly in interviews and his 2019 memoir.

Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty to murder with use of a deadly weapon. Prosecutors allege he obtained the gun and helped orchestrate the retaliatory shooting after Shakur and members of his entourage attacked Anderson inside the MGM Grand earlier that night.

His defense argues Davis fabricated his accounts for leverage, entertainment and money. Attorney Michael Sanft has said investigators did not charge Davis after the 2008 interview because they did not believe his story was credible.