Tupac Shakur refused to tell police who shot him after the 1996 Las Vegas ambush, even as he lay seriously wounded in an ambulance, according to testimony heard during the first day of Duane “Keefe D” Davis’ murder trial.
Former Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer Garry Dale took the stand and described his brief encounter with Tupac after the rapper was shot on September 7, 1996.
Dale testified that he asked Tupac multiple times who had shot him. According to the officer, Tupac did not identify his attacker.
Instead, the rapper reportedly told Dale that he and his crew would “take care of it,” suggesting he intended for his own people to deal with whoever was responsible.
That exchange became one of the striking details from the opening day of testimony, given that Tupac never got the opportunity to follow through on that promise.
Tupac was transported to a Las Vegas hospital, where he remained on life support for several days. He died on September 13, 1996, six days after the shooting.
Nearly three decades later, Davis is facing prosecution in connection with the killing. He was arrested in 2023 and is accused by prosecutors of helping orchestrate the shooting. Prosecutors do not allege that Davis was the person who pulled the trigger.
Davis has also publicly discussed his alleged involvement in the shooting over the years, including comments made in interviews and conversations with police. The supplied material notes that some of those police conversations occurred under immunity.
If convicted, Davis could face a life sentence. The trial now offers prosecutors an opportunity to revisit one of the most consequential moments in the Tupac case — including what the rapper himself said when he was given a chance to identify his attacker.
For Tupac, that answer apparently never came.
