Tupac's Killer Found Guilty After 30 Years, Faces Life Without Parole

Gang Leader Admits to "Ordering the Shooting" in Autobiography
Tupac Fatally Shot on the Street... Case Remained Unsolved for Decades

The legendary American hip-hop rapper Tupac, who was shot and killed on a street in 1996, has finally seen his murderer receive a guilty verdict after 30 years.

On September 1, 2026, Yonhap News reported, citing the Associated Press and CNN, that a Nevada Clark County first trial court jury unanimously found Dwayne Keppy D. Davis (63) guilty of first-degree murder of Tupac. As a result, Davis faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 13.

Dwayne Keppy D. Davis (center) and his attorney are entering the courtroom for a trial at the Clark County District Court in Las Vegas on the 31st of last month (local time). Photo by AP Yonhap News

Tupac, who represented West Coast hip-hop, was shot and killed while riding in a car on a Las Vegas street on September 7, 1996. The case remained unsolved for nearly 30 years, with both the perpetrator and motives unknown.

Davis, the leader of the Los Angeles (LA) gang Southside Compton Crips, was named as one of the prime suspects, but investigators lacked concrete evidence.

However, in a memoir published in 2019, Davis confessed that he had ordered Tupac's killing and provided the firearm. According to the memoir, after Davis's nephew Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson was assaulted by Tupac's entourage, Davis chased them for revenge. When Tupac leaned out of the car, Davis handed a gun to someone in the back seat. In Davis's vehicle were his nephew Anderson, DeAndre "Freaky" Smith, and Terrence "Bubble Up" Brown, all of whom have since passed away.

Nevada law allows for murder charges even if a person did not personally pull the trigger, as long as they participated in the crime. Davis claimed that not everything in his memoir was true and that he had exaggerated certain aspects to boost sales, but the jury did not accept this argument. Prosecutors presented police interview recordings, his memoir, and statements from media interviews, concluding that Davis's testimony describing Tupac's murder was credible.

The late rapper Tupac Shakur. Photo by AP News Agency

Upon the guilty verdict, Tupac's family members embraced each other in tears. Davis's side announced plans to appeal.

Tupac was a representative rapper of the 1990s with songs such as "California Love," "Dear Mama," and "Changes." His music explored the realities of poverty, racial discrimination, and police violence in Black communities in the United States, granting him global influence. He sold over 75 million albums worldwide in both his lifetime and posthumously, and he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.