30 years after Tupac Shakur’s death following a drive-by shooting in Nevada, Duane “Keefe D” Davis is standing trial for the crime. Tupac’s death remained a mystery for many years, producing theories and inquiries that never panned out. But in 2023, Davis was arrested and charged with the murder. Jury selection for the trial began on August 10, 2026, and the trial is predicted to last about four weeks.
But there’s one person involved who could potentially drag everything out much longer. Suge Knight is the only living eyewitness to Tupac Shakur’s murder in September 1996. But he has maintained his silence for 30 years, and steadfastly refuses to testify in court.
“This trial has nothing to do with me, and if somebody brings me there, it’s gonna hurt whoever brings me there. I promise you that,” Knight told ABC News in early August 2026. He is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence for manslaughter after a fatal hit-and-run in 2015. Speaking from prison, he adamantly replied, “Leave me out of it.”
Knight is determined to protect his loyalty to Tupac, citing street code and their close friendship. Suge Knight was driving the ’96 BMW when the shooting occurred. Tupac was hit four times in the chest, arm, and thigh, while Knight was grazed by fragmentation.
Suge Knight Maintains his Silence on Tupac’s Murder, Refusing to Condemn Duane Davis to a Life in Prison
Suge Knight maintained his stance that getting on the witness stand is a cardinal sin. He described it as being worse than the violent act itself.
“To actually get on the stand, and point somebody out, it’s worse than taking a gun and shooting that man in the head,” he told ABC News. “Because if you shoot a person in the head, they die once. If you get on the stand and you snitch on that person, they die a million times.”
He added, “My loyalty to Tupac can never be compromised. Me as a man, what I believe in, can’t be compromised. I’m not there to help [Davis], and I’m damn not there to hurt him.”
Knight also implied that, even though Tupac’s death still haunts him, he refuses to be a tool used to condemn a man to a life sentence. “I am not going to be responsible for sending another man to prison for the rest of his life,” he said. “If God’s forgiving, who am I to think I’m bigger than God and don’t forgive? Because I’m not.”
Even with that admission, Knight reportedly didn’t hide his disdain for Davis when speaking to ABC News. He dismissed Davis’ legal strategy of claiming he wasn’t even in Las Vegas at the time of the shooting.
Davis has publicly alluded to his involvement in Tupac’s killing for several years, including in the 2019 memoir Compton Street Legend, which he now claims was solely for entertainment. However, Suge Knight believes this defense is like “falling off a cliff”, and that Davis is “still grabbing and trying” to reach anything that will hold him up.
Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage
The post The Only Living Eyewitness to Tupac’s 1996 Murder Still Refuses to Testify, Will Derail Trial if Called to Stand appeared first on VICE.
