Tupac Murder Mystery Lingers, But New Interview Prompts Fresh Look By Police

A recently surfaced eyewitness confession has brought hip hop icon Tupac Shakur's 1996 murder back into the spotlight.

Las Vegas Police confirmed they're reviewing Shakur's homicide case, but denied speculation that an arrest was imminent.

Earlier this year, Duane “Keffe D” Davis told BET that he was inside the same car as the gunman who opened fire on Shakur on the night of Sept. 7, 1996. Keffe D didn't reveal the name of the alleged shooter in the interview, but said he knew who pulled the trigger from the backseat.

“Going to keep it for the code of the streets,” Keffe D said on BET’s show Death Row Chronicles. “It just came from the backseat, bro.”

According to the NY Daily News, the two men in the backseat were identified as Orlando Anderson, Keffe D's nephew, and DeAndre Smith. Anderson, a previously named suspect in the shooting, denied the accusation and died in a 1998 gang shootout in Compton, Calif., the Daily News reports. 

Keffe D’s recent admission comes amid his struggle with cancer, which he said has motivated him to speak more honestly about the case.

"People have been pursuing me for 20 years. I'm coming out now because I have cancer, and I have nothing else to lose," Keffe D told the Hollywood Reporter. "All I care about now is the truth."

Keffe D also appeared in the recent documentary Unsolved: The Tupac and Biggie Murders, where he recounted the same details of the night Shakur was murdered. The documentary, part of an ongoing true crime series on USA Network, was released on Netflix last month.

After Keffe D’s two on-camera appearances, rumors circulated about an imminent arrest warrant issued for Shakur’s murderer. But in a recent statement, Las Vegas Metro Police clarified that the case was still open, and no arrests warrants were issued at the time.

“We are aware of the statements made in a BET interview regarding the Tupac case. As a result of those statements we have spent the last several months reviewing the case in its entirety,” the Las Vegas police said in the statement. “Various reports that an arrest warrant is about to be submitted are inaccurate. This case still remains an open homicide case.”

A change.org petition launched after the Keffe D’s first BET interview is calling for the police department to conclude Shakur’s murder investigation, saying the case has been solved, citing previous statements Keffe D allegedly made to invesigators that identified Anderson as the shooter.

“It is time for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to declare that the Tupac Shakur murder case has been 'cleared,' and to finally bring closure for Shakur's family, friends and fans,” the petition on change.org reads.

The petition has received more than 2,500 of the 5,000 signatures it set out to get when it launched two months ago.

Shakur’s killing in 1996 was part of a string of infamous murders that left two major hip-hop icons dead, and several others wounded. New York-based rapper, Notorious B.I.G., was also murdered in 1997.

The murder investigation into Shakur’s death has been ongoing for nearly 21 years, and remains officially unsolved.

[Photos: Getty Images]