The family of the late rapper Tupac Shakur has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Los Angeles. The wrongful death lawsuit was filed on Tuesday by Tupac’s brother Maurice Shakur. “Nearly 30 years after Tupac’s death, in 2023, the first and only arrest was made,” the documents state.
The lawsuit names former gang leader Duane “Keefe D” Davis, who is currently awaiting trial for his alleged role in the shooting as the main defendant, alongside other unnamed co-conspirators.
“Related grand jury transcripts and a subsequent Netflix documentary have since revealed the existence of a broader, more complex conspiracy to murder Tupac that involved much more than mere retaliation for a prior altercation.”
The documents express that new evidence will finally allow the family to identify and name the individuals who may have participated in planning, financing, directing, or carrying out the conspiracy to murder Tupac.
These new sources of information include grand jury transcripts from Davis’ criminal proceedings and interviews from the Netflix documentary Sean Combs: The Reckoning, according to the complaint.
The documentary, released last November, included tapes of a police interview in which Davis claims that Combs offered him $1m to murder Shakur.
Combs has repeatedly denied involvement in the rapper’s shooting and called the Netflix documentary “a shameful hit piece”.
Davis is the only person ever charged in connection with Tupac’s death, after years of investigations. However, he has pleaded not guilty. He is also one of the last surviving witness to the crime.
The lawsuit alleges there was a “complex conspiracy” to murder the rapper. It also aims to uncover the identity of the individuals who were involved.
Tupac Shakur was one of the most prominent rappers of the early 1990s. He ranked among the bestselling artists with hit singles such as “Hit ‘Em Up” and “California Love”.
He was also an actor with roles in “Juice”, “Above The Rim” and “Poetic Justice”.
His career ended when he was shot four times in a drive-by attack in Las Vegas in September 1996. The shooting occurred off the Las Vegas strip.
It was after he had attended a Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand hotel. He was on his way to an afterparty when a white Cadillac stopped next to their BMW car at a red light, and fired eight bullets.
He died in hospital six days later, at the age of 25.
The case remained unsolved for years until 2023 when Davis was arrested in Nevada by authorities.
Davis was charged with murder in September 2023. Despite pleading not guilty, he described his involvement in the murder of Tupac Shakur in a 2019 memoir.
Police alleged he planned the shooting with his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson. The nephew had gotten into an altercation with Shakur in a casino.
In court, prosecutor Marc DiaGiacomo described Davis as the “on-ground, on-site commander” who “ordered the death” of Shakur.
Police said that Davis got the gun from an unnamed associate. The police also mentioned his “own admissions” to media outlets that he was in the vehicle from which the shots were fired. They did not state who fired the weapon.
The three men who were in the car with Davis at the time of the shooting, including his nephew, have all since died.
Davis’ trial is set to commence in August.
Featured image: Tupac on 2pac.com
