Warrant reveals details of search in Tupac death investigation
Authorities removed more than two dozen items from a Henderson home related to the investigation of the 1996 shooting death of the rapper Tupac Shakur, including computers, iPads, bullet cartridges and evidence of street gang involvement, according to a copy of the warrant obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The warrant also requested photos, books, documents and other items, including writings about Shakur, the document states.
The Metropolitan Police Department requested the warrant on Saturday and obtained permission from a district judge to search the residence of Duane Keith Davis, 60, on Maple Shade Street in Henderson, based on the document.
Items taken by investigators from Davis’ abode included a desktop computer, four laptops, three iPads, an iPhone, a 500 GB hard drive, a tablet, a USB drive, 11 .40-caliber cartridges, a copy of Davis’ co-written book “Compton Street Legend,” and a Vibe magazine article on Shakur.
Davis, in the book, discussed the Shakur shooting and his life as a drug boss with the Los Angeles street gang the Southside Compton Crips.
Other items removed by police included two black tubs of photographs, other various photos and an amount of “purported marijuana,” according to the document.
The warrant was executed at the home on Monday, the document stated. Neighbors have said police arrived at the home that evening.
The document, which also names Davis as Deandre Keith Davis, reveals that Las Vegas police sought “photos, movies, CDs, writing or other documentation showing Duane Keith Davis a.k.a ‘Keefy D’ or ‘Keffe D’ involvement with the Southside Compton Crips.”
Police also wanted to look for personal property, bills and receipts establishing “the identity of persons in control of” the house on Maple Shade Street.
The warrant further indicated that police were seeking evidence related to those involved in the death of Shakur.
It stated police wanted items that “tend to show evidence of motive and/or identity of the perpetrator such as photographs and undeveloped film, insurance policies, and letters, address and telephone records, diaries, and other documents, whether such items are written, typed or stored on computer discs.”
Tupak Search Warrant by Las Vegas Review-Journal on Scribd
District Judge Jacqueline Bluth wrote that she was satisfied there was probable cause to permit a search of the home and acknowledged that it is “NOT a no-knock search warrant,” meaning that the police would not enter the place without notifying the residents.
Davis revealed he had a connection to Shakur’s killing in 2018 in the Netflix documentary, “Unsolved: The Tupac and Biggie Murders,” and in the book he published in 2019. He indicated that he was in the car with the shooter who killed Shakur.
A synopsis of the book on Amazon.com claims that it would provide “the missing piece of the puzzle that Hip-Hop Fans have been waiting for” about the slaying of Shakur.
“But at the end of the day, none of the private investigators, retired police officers, informants, Hip-Hop heads, actors, or academics that have weighed in on the topic truly know what happened and the reasons behind it, because none of them were there,” the summary reads.
Shakur died at 25 on Sept. 13, 1996, after he was shot five days earlier at the intersection of Flamingo Road and Koval Lane.
The rapper was leaving the MGM Grand after the Mike Tyson vs. Bruce Seldon heavyweight fight when he was shot four times while in his BMW with Death Row Records founder Suge Knight. The BMW was stopped at a red light when a Cadillac pulled up next to it and someone from the Cadillac fired several rounds into Shakur’s BMW.
Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson, had gotten into a fight with Shakur the same night he was killed. The same type of gun used in the shooting was found in a duffle bag in the backyard of the girlfriend of one of Anderson’s close friends. The bag had a Las Vegas mailing address inside it.
Anderson died at age 23 in a gang-related shooting in 1998. He had been briefly named as a suspect in the shooting investigation before his death in 1998, according to reports from the Los Angeles Times and Esquire.
Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow him @JeffBurbank2 on Twitter.
