Las Vegas authorities arrested Duane “Keefe D” Davis on Friday (September 29) for the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur. Davis was charged with one count of murder with a deadly weapon and with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. Hours later, the legendary rapper’s pre-fame friend, Jada Pinkett, shared her thoughts on the development.
“Now I hope we can get some answers and have some closure. R.I.P. Pac,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories. At one point, 2Pac’s murder seemed destined to be a cold case forever as decades passed without any indictments.
Prior to his passing, 2Pac built a personal relationship with Pinkett while attending the Baltimore School for the Arts together. Earlier this month, she shared her enduring love for 2Pac, uploading a video of the then-teenagers lipsyncing to DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince’s “Parents Just Don’t Understand.”
Pinkett later married The Fresh Prince, better known as Hollywood actor Will Smith, in 1997 and they had two children: 25-year-old Jaden Smith and 22-year-old Willow Smith.
“Not in a million years would I have dreamed that the Fresh Prince and I would become, um, very acquainted,” Pinkett captioned her Instagram post. “Not in a million years did I imagine three lives, their fates, would be so intertwined.”
Twenty-seven years after 2Pac’s murder, there’s a sense of relief that justice will potentially be served. Although Davis didn’t pull the trigger, under Nevada law he’s still culpable for the murder. As Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Jason Johansson said, “He orchestrated the plan that was carried out.”