Jurors in Tupac trial shown casings, photos of hip-hop icon's body

Noble Brigham, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Aug 18, 2026

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LAS VEGAS — Jurors on Tuesday were shown photos of Tupac Shakur’s body and the casings of rounds apparently fired at him during the trial of the man accused of orchestrating the hip-hop icon’s killing.

Nearly 30 years after the September 1996 shooting at Flamingo Road and Koval Lane near the Strip, Duane Davis, 63, is on trial. No one was arrested in the case until 2023, when he was taken into custody outside his home in Henderson.

The trial largely turns on his prior statements about the killing and whether jurors will believe those statements or his defense attorney’s questions about their veracity.

Davis gave interviews about the shooting to media and law enforcement and published a memoir that he now disputes writing.

In the book, Davis described “tossing” a gun into the back seat of the Cadillac in which he was riding, so another man could commit the shooting.

Police have said Davis is the last person alive out of the four who were in the car.

Authorities have alleged Davis was the “shot-caller” who conceived the plan to exact revenge on the rapper and Death Row Records CEO Marion “Suge” Knight in retaliation for an attack by Shakur and his entourage against Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson, earlier that night at the MGM Grand.

According to prosecutors, the Bloods-associated Mob Piru gang had ties to Death Row Records and the South Side Crips — in which Davis was a leader — were associated with Bad Boy Records, a label owned by Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Retired Detective Dean O’Kelley, who worked in Metro’s gang unit at the time of the shooting, testified Tuesday that when he arrived at the scene, traffic was still moving on Flamingo.

Police spotted cartridge cases in the street, then placed cones on top of them to protect the evidence from passing cars, he said. At least one had already been run over by traffic.

Under questioning from Marc DiGiacomo, O’Kelley cut open an evidence envelope and took out small tubes containing casings.

“This is actually the closest that I’ve seen them,” he said.

After he was relieved from protecting the scene, he and other officers searched for a light-colored Cadillac with four black occupants, based on a description they received.

Other prosecution witnesses Tuesday also had a connection to the events surrounding the shooting.

Retired Metro Sgt. Kenneth Rios was on patrol at the MGM the night of the shooting.

He indicated that he spoke with Anderson, Davis’ nephew, in the aftermath of the attack on Anderson.

Anderson refused medical treatment, claimed essentially that people he didn’t know had jumped him and was not interested in filing a report, Rios said.

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