"He Started Blasting": Jurors Hear 2008 Audio Tapes of Duane "Keffe D" Davis Naming Nephew in Tupac Shakur Drive-By Ambush

LAS VEGAS, NV — The courtroom atmosphere inside the Regional Justice Center grew silent on Friday, August 21, 2026, as prosecutors played recorded 2008 police interviews featuring defendant Duane “Keffe D” Davis recounting the drive-by shooting of rap star Tupac Shakur.

Davis, 63, is on trial before Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny on one count of murder with a deadly weapon with a criminal gang enhancement.

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|          KEFFE D TRIAL: 2008 POLICE AUDIO DOSSIER      |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
|  - Defendant: Duane "Keffe D" Davis (Age 63)           |
|  - Venue: Clark County District Court (RJC Las Vegas)  |
|  - Presiding Judge: Judge Carli Kierny                 |
|  - Key Evidence: Dec. 2008 Recorded Police Interview   |
|  - Key Admissions on Tape:                             |
|      • Handed gun into backseat of Cadillac            |
|      • Named nephew Orlando Anderson as the shooter    |
|      • Targeted Suge Knight and Tupac Shakur           |
|  - Defense Position: Unreliable Proffer / Exaggeration |
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The 2008 Proffer Tapes: “I Passed It to the Back”

Jurors followed along with printed and projected transcripts as audio recordings from December 2008 filled the courtroom. In the interview, conducted as part of a federal proffer agreement regarding an unrelated drug investigation, Davis told task force detectives that he was riding in the front passenger seat of the white Cadillac when they pulled alongside Death Row Records CEO Marion “Suge” Knight’s black BMW at Flamingo Road and Koval Lane.

Davis stated on tape that if the BMW had been on his side of the vehicle, he would have fired the weapon himself. Because the targets were positioned on the opposite side, Davis explained that he handed the .40-caliber firearm into the backseat. When backseat passenger Deandre “Big Dre” Smith hesitated, Davis’s nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, took the weapon and opened fire through the open window.

“If we would have been on my side, I would have blasted,” Davis told investigators in the recording. “I passed it to the back… and Lane started firing.”

Members of Shakur’s family, including his stepbrother Maurice “Mopreme” Shakur and cousin Zayd Akinyela, sat in the front rows of the courtroom gallery as the audio played.

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|             TIMELINE OF RECORDED ADMISSIONS            |
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|  1. Sept. 7, 1996 - Fatal drive-by shooting occurs     |
|  2. 1998 - Shooter Orlando Anderson dies in shooting   |
|  3. Dec. 2008 - Davis gives recorded police proffer    |
|  4. 2019 - Davis publishes memoir recounting ambush    |
|  5. Sept. 2023 - Grand jury indicts Davis for murder   |
|  6. Aug. 2026 - Tapes admitted as core trial evidence  |
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Defense Focuses on Broken Proffers and Credibility

During cross-examination, defense attorney Michael Sanft challenged the admissibility and accuracy of the 2008 statements. The defense emphasized that detectives originally told Davis that “nothing leaves this room” during the interview, arguing that his statements were uncorroborated street talk designed to secure leniency on unrelated federal drug trafficking inquiries rather than verifiable factual confessions.

Prosecutors countered that Davis forfeited any confidentiality protections when he publicly repeated his accounts across media interviews, YouTube podcasts, and his 2019 self-published memoir.

Testimony resumes Monday morning at the Regional Justice Center.

Source: Clark County District Court Trial Records, Associated Press Judicial Pool, Eighth Judicial District Court Filings.