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Topics: Tupac Shakur, Conspiracy Theories, US News, Music
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Tupac Shakur, Conspiracy Theories, US News, Music
Tupac Shakur's step-brother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Duane 'Keefe D' Davis in the run up to the former gang member's trial this summer.
Tupac was fatally shot aged 25 in 1996. He was in the prime of his career having sold millions of records and had just begun acting too, an additional profession he showed promise in.
He starred in Poetic Justice alongside Janet Jackson, as well as Juice, Bullet, and Above the Rim.
But it wasn't meant to be for the 25-year-old rapper. On September 7, 1996, Tupac was shot in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. He died a few days later in hospital.
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For decades, the circumstances surrounding his death have raised questions. Was it gang related? Was Sean 'Diddy' Combs involved? How many people were actually behind the murder?
In light of there being so many questions, Tupac's step-brother ,Maurice 'Mopreme' Shakur, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in California against Duane Davis – who was charged with first-degree murder in 2023. He has pleaded not guilty and is set to stand trial in August.
'John Does 1 through 100' are also listed as defendants in the filing, The Los Angeles Times reports.
Shakur's suit alleges that there was a 'complex conspiracy' to murder his late step-brother and now he hopes to reveal the identity of the 'individuals who were involved' through discovery.
Ultimately, he wants to identify anyone who may have ordered, financed, or planned Tupac's shooting.
"Nearly 30 years after Tupac's death, in 2023, the first - and only - arrest was made," the documents state, per BBC News.
"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 altercation mentioned refers to Tupac and his entourage getting into a fight with Orlando 'Baby Lane' Anderson – a Southside Compton Crip member and the nephew of Davis – at MGM Grand in Las Vegas on the day of the Juice actor's shooting.
Anderson died at the age of 23 in May 1998 after being shot in the chest.
Following the release of the Netflix doc Sean Combs: The Reckoning, the idea that Combs was allegedly involved in Tupac's shooting has been thrown around.
In the documentary, which was released on the streaming platform last December, there's footage of a police interview with Davis where he claims that Combs offered him $1,000,000 to kill Tupac.
He put out the alleged hit following an escalating beef between East Coast and West Coast rappers.
Combs, who was sentenced to four years in jail in October for crimes unrelated to Tupac, has repeatedly denied any involvement in the late music icon's death.
Knight was driving the car with Tupac inside when he was shot. He's the co-founder of Death Row Records, which was the rapper's label.
There have been some suggestions that Knight knew about the shooting before it happened or that he was somehow involved in setting it up.
Currently there is no evidence to support this theory, but Shakur's new suit could lead to more information coming to light.
Knight is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence for a hit-and-run in 2015.