‘Keefe D,’ Tupac Shakur killing suspect, appears in court for 1st time

Duane 'Keefe D' Davis, 60, stood shackled, wearing a dark-blue jail uniform and plastic orange slippers at the hearing.

Nearly three decades after Tupac Shakur was shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, a self-described “gangster” made his first court appearance to answer for the hip-hop legend’s death.

Duane “Keefe D” Davis, 60, stood shackled, wearing a dark-blue jail uniform and plastic orange slippers at the Wednesday hearing in Clark County.

Davis was scheduled to be arraigned on a murder charge for Shakur’s death, but the hearing was cut short after Davis asked Clark County District Judge Tierra Jones for a postponement while he retains a lawyer in Las Vegas.

Mopreme Shakur, the rapper’s stepbrother, wasn’t in court Wednesday, but he told The Associated Press that he’s been following developments in the case from his home in Los Angeles, even as he and his family are “trying to manage our expectations.”

“Young Black men often deal with delayed justice because we’re often viewed as the criminals,” he said. “So justice has been delayed for quite some time — in spite of all the eyes, all the attention, despite the celebrity of my brother.”

Last Friday, Davis was arrested near his home in Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas. A few hours later, a grand jury indictment was unsealed in Clark County District Court charging him with murder.

Police and prosecutors say Davis masterminded the drive-by shooting that claimed Shakur’s life and injured rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight on Sept. 7, 1996.

Marc DiGiacomo, a chief deputy district attorney in Clark County, alleged Davis was the “on-ground, on-site commander” who “ordered the death” of Shakur and Knight in retaliation for an assault on Davis’ nephew.