LOS ANGELES — As a trial approaches for the sole suspect charged in the slaying of Tupac Shakur, the rapper’s stepbrother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit stating that for “the first time in nearly 30 years, threads are starting to come together” regarding the various parties involved in the infamous murder.
Maurice Shakur, known by his stage name, Mopreme, filed a complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday seeking damages against Duane “Keffe D” Davis and additional unnamed defendants accused of participating in the rap legend’s killing.
Tupac Shakur was shot in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996. As he rode past the MGM Grand Hotel and Caesars Palace in a BMW, a white Cadillac pulled up alongside and a gunman opened fire, striking the hip-hop icon four times.
Over the course of three decades, multiple law enforcement agencies tried to crack the case as conspiracy theories involving complex gang and music-related rivalries swirled.
“Many individuals who were involved have long since passed away, while others have been hard to identify,” states Maurice Shakur in the complaint. “Yet, one thing is certain: there remain individuals who were involved in Tupac’s murder who, for 30 years, have not been held accountable for their crimes.”
“This action seeks to change that,” the complaint continues.
A major development took place in 2023 when Las Vegas authorities charged Davis — who has long acknowledged being present in the white Cadillac — with first-degree murder.
Authorities used his own admissions in his 2019 book, “Compton Street Legend,” to build a case against him. Prosecutors allege that he formulated a plan to exact revenge on Tupac Shakur for an earlier gang-related confrontation, acquired .40-caliber Glock firearm and gave the orders to shoot the rapper.
Davis has pleaded not guilty and is currently scheduled to stand trial in August.
Maurice Shakur’s civil complaint is filed against Davis and John Does 1 through 100, who are identified as “individuals who may have participated in planning, financing, directing, or carrying out the conspiracy” to kill Tupac.
In 1997, Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, filed a wrongful death suit against Orlando Anderson, based on the prevailing theory that Anderson opened fire because Tupac Shakur and figures affiliated with the Bloods had assaulted him in the MGM lobby earlier that day. Anderson was killed in a separate gang-related shooting in Compton in 1998, and Afeni Shakur’s case was dismissed in 1999.
The lawsuit says recent developments have “revealed the existence of a broader, more complex conspiracy to murder Tupac that involved much more than mere retaliation for a prior altercation” and expresses hope that new evidence will finally allow the rapper’s family to identify and name the John Doe defendants.
These new sources of information include grand jury transcripts from Davis’ criminal proceedings and interviews from Netflix’s December documentary “Sean Combs: The Reckoning,” according to the complaint. Attorneys for Davis and Combs did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Combs has repeatedly denied involvement in the rapper’s shooting.
The jury transcripts contained evidence pertaining to the involvement of people beyond those present in the white Cadillac, while the documentary includes allegations from high-level executives within Combs’ record label that he was involved in the killing, the complaint states.
Maurice Shakur claims that these developments make his wrongful death suit fundamentally different than the 1997 lawsuit.
He rapped alongside Tupac Shakur in hip-hop groups Outlawz and Thug Life in the ’90s and continued to release music after his stepbrother’s death. He has filed the lawsuit as the administrator of the estate of Tupac Shakur’s stepfather, Mutulu Shakur, who died from cancer in 2023.
