On September 7, 1996, Tupac Shakur was shot multiple times in Las Vegas and died six days later. The motive was widely believed to be gang-related, with the Southside Crips allegedly responsible for the murder. Shakur was tied to the Mob Piru Bloods, a street gang that often battled with the Crips over territory and personal slights in Compton, California. On the night of the shooting, Shakur and his Bloods bodyguards beat Crips member Orlando Anderson in the lobby of a Mike Tyson prizefight venue. Afterward, Anderson allegedly went to his fellow gang members and demanded retaliation. According to sources, several Crips began driving around in a white Cadillac, searching for Shakur. When they finally located the BMW carrying Shakur and Suge Knight, the Crips pulled up alongside the vehicle at a red light and opened fire, fatally wounding Shakur. Some have claimed that the gun used in the attack belonged to New York rapper Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace), who had a longstanding feud with Shakur.
In 2023 Duane Keith Davis was arrested and charged with murder, following an indictment by a grand jury in Nevada. He pleaded not guilty. Davis, known as “Keffe D” and an uncle of Anderson, has claimed in a memoir and interviews that he was in the white Cadillac when the shooting occurred. In August 2026 a jury found Davis guilty of first-degree murder. He was later sentenced to 40 years to life in prison.