DJ Vlad is taking credit for solving Tupac Shakur’s murder after nearly 3 decades. The rap icon was gunned down in a drive-by on Sept. 7, 1996, while riding in Suge Knight’s BMW on the Las Vegas strip. He died six days later at age 25.
Tupac’s murder was a cold case for 27 years until last week when Las Vegas detectives arrested a South Side Compton Crips leader, Duane “Keefe D” Davis.
Las Vegas Metro Police Lt. Jason Johansson said Davis was “the leader and shot caller” of the drive-by.
Johansson said cold case detectives decided to “take a last run at this case” after Davis admitted to his role in the murder in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend.
But even before he released his memoir, Davis told on himself in a notorious interview with popular blogger DJ Vlad.
As part of his book promotion, Davis spoke to DJ Vlad a few months after the book’s release.
As a result of the lengthy interview, detectives were able to tie together loose ends to solve Tupac’s murder.
Vlad previously revealed that homicide detectives contacted him about his interview with Davis.
“I felt that I essentially solved this whole case four years ago when I did the first interview with Keefe D in July of 2019,” Vlad told Yahoo Entertainment.
“I mean, it was all laid out from beginning to end, and so for me, that was my sense of closure, just as a fan of ‘Pac.”
In the interview and in his book, Davis bragged that he provided the gun that killed Tupac.
Davis said he was in the front passenger seat of a Cadillac that pulled up alongside the BMW sedan with Tupac and Death Row Records boss Suge Knight. Davis said he passed a gun into the back, where the shots rang out. Shakur was struck four times. Knight was grazed by a bullet.
In the backseat of the Cadillac were Davis’s nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson and another man. Both men are now deceased. Davis previously said his nephew was the triggerman.
Now 60, Davis faces life in prison if convicted.
“Just because Keefe got arrested doesn’t mean that Keefe is getting convicted,” Vlad told Yahoo Entertainment.
Watch the interview below.
