Marion ‘Suge’ Knight has insisted he will not testify against Tupac’s murder suspect, despite being with the rapper when he was killed.
Duane “Keefe D” Davis, 60, was taken into custody by Las Vegas detectives last week and has been charged with murder with use of a deadly weapon.
Knight, the 58-year-old co-founder of Death Row Records, said TMZ that he believes police arrested the wrong man for Tupac’s murder, and stated he would not appear in court.
He was injured in the 1996 shooting and despite being the only living witness, he said: ‘I 1000% wouldn’t go. I wouldn’t testify, none of that.”
Knight is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence for a 2015 accident.
Following last week’s news, Chief Deputy Attorney Marc DiGiacomo described Davis as the “scene commander” who “ordered Shakur’s death.” Davis was denied bail by Clark County District Judge Jerry Wiese.
Shakur was 25 years old when he was shot four times in the chest while in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996. He died on September 13.
Pictured: Tupac Shakur and Marion Suge Knight. Knight, the 58-year-old co-founder of Death Row Records, said he believes police arrested the wrong man for Tupac’s murder and stated he would not appear in court.
Duane “Keefe D” Davis was taken into custody by Las Vegas detectives Friday morning and has been charged with murder with the use of a deadly weapon
American rapper and actor Tupac Shakur was killed in a shooting that has been unsolved for 27 years
Shakur was in a BMW driven by Knight in a convoy of about ten cars.
They were waiting at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up next to them and gunfire erupted.
Police say Davis “began to hatch a plan” to kill Shakur and Marion “Suge” Knight after they attacked his cousin during a Mike Tyson boxing match.
They added that the rapper and his manager were with members of the Mob Piru gang and that they knew from the start that the shooting was a “gang” investigation.
Davis is the only one of the three suspects in the car that night who is still alive
A grand jury in Nevada indicted Davis for the murder after serving “several months.” Davis was arrested last week while walking near his home.
He has spoken openly about being at the scene of the drive-by shooting 27 years ago, admitting he handed the murder weapon to a fellow gang member. Davis is the only one who was in the car that night and is still alive.
Last week, Mopreme Shakur, Tupac’s stepbrother, called Davis’ arrest 27 years after the rapper’s death “bittersweet.”
“We’ve been through decades of pain,” he told CNN. ‘They have known about this man for years, silencing him.
‘So why now? This is not over for us yet. We want to know why and whether there were any accomplices.’
During a press conference on Friday, homicide Lt. Jason Johansson called Davis the “leader and shot caller.”
He admitted that many facts of the case were known to police in the “first few months” of the investigation, but that they revived their efforts in 2018.
Johansson said police “knew this was likely the last time we would look at this case to successfully resolve this case and file criminal charges” after Davis “admitted his involvement in the murder.”
Police believe Davis obtained the weapon used from a “close associate” but declined to provide more details, saying they would come out during the trial.
Sheriff Kevin McMahill added that the case was “far from over” and said they were working toward a “successful prosecution.”
District Attorney Steve Wolfson said: “It is often said that justice delayed is justice denied. In this case, justice has been delayed, but justice will not be denied.”
Davis wrote in his tell-all 2019 memoir “Compton Street Legend” that he was in the Cadillac involved in the shooting.
In the book, he said he told authorities about his involvement in the 2010 killing during a closed-door meeting with federal and local authorities.
“They promised they would quash the indictment and stop the grand jury if I helped them,” he wrote.
He was 46 at the time and facing life in prison on drug charges when he agreed to speak to authorities.
The arrest comes two months after Vegas police raided Davis’ wife’s home on July 17, looking for items “related to the murder of Tupac Shakur.”
Homicide Lt. Jason Johansson called Davis the ‘leader and shot caller’ during a press conference
Authorities seized several computers, a cell phone and a hard drive, as well as a Vibe magazine featuring Shakur.
They also took several .40 caliber bullets, two “tubs of photographs” and a copy of Davis’ memoirs.
Shakur’s death came as his fourth solo album, “All Eyez on Me,” continued to chart, selling some 5 million copies.
A six-time Grammy Award nominee, Shakur is largely considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time.
At the time, he was feuding with rap rival Biggie Smalls, also known as the Notorious BIG, who was fatally shot in March 1997.
At the time, both rappers were in the middle of an East Coast-West Coast rivalry that defined the hip-hop scene especially in the mid-1990s.
Shakur accused Biggie and Sean “Diddy” Combs of being behind another shooting in 1994.
He was shot in a hotel lobby and seriously injured, but survived the attack and accused both rappers of being linked to the attack.