A decades-old killing is being examined in court through firsthand accounts and medical evidence. The testimony adds detail to Tupac Shakur’s final hours but does not resolve every question surrounding the case.
Tupac Shakur’s autopsy findings were revealed during a trial, and Tupac Shakur’s reported last words were also described in testimony. In the murder trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, jurors heard an officer’s account of Shakur’s final ambulance ride and a medical examiner’s explanation of the gunshot injuries that killed the rapper.
The testimony matters because Davis is the only person ever charged in Shakur’s 1996 killing. It gives the court a clearer record of Shakur’s final moments while leaving prosecutors with the harder task of tying Davis to the shooting itself.
An officer recalled the ambulance ride
Retired Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer Garry Dale testified that he was working on the Las Vegas Strip on Sept. 7, 1996, when he stopped the vehicle carrying Shakur and Marion “Suge” Knight over a missing visible rear license plate.
Dale said he gave the pair a warning and let them continue. Minutes later, Shakur and Knight were shot in a drive-by attack. Knight survived; Shakur died six days later.
According to Dale’s testimony, he rode in the ambulance with Shakur and tried to learn who had fired at the vehicle. Dale said Shakur was still able to speak but did not identify an attacker.
Dale recalled Shakur saying, “No, we’ll take care of it,” and said the rapper repeated the phrase. That account is a witness recollection introduced in court, not a recording of Shakur’s final words, and it does not by itself identify who was responsible for the shooting.
Medical testimony traced the fatal wounds
On Aug. 18, Clark County medical examiner and forensic pathologist Dr. Lisa Gavin testified about Shakur’s autopsy. Jurors were shown autopsy photographs that were not included in the public trial broadcast, according to USA Today.
Gavin said a bullet entered through Shakur’s right armpit area, passed through a lung and into his chest. The lung collapsed and bled, she testified, and doctors later removed it during emergency surgery.
She also described a gunshot wound to Shakur’s right thigh, with the bullet traveling into his abdomen and damaging his intestines. Gavin told jurors Shakur had no head wounds and said she could not determine whether all of the bullets were the same caliber.
Her ultimate medical conclusion was that Shakur died from gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen. The testimony establishes the physical consequences of the attack; it is separate from evidence intended to prove who planned or carried it out.
The case centers on Davis
Davis was indicted in September 2023 on one count of murder with a deadly weapon, with an allegation that the offense was intended to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors allege Davis supplied the gun and called for the shooting in retaliation for an earlier confrontation involving his nephew. That is the prosecution’s theory, not a finding of fact, and Davis is entitled to challenge it through his defense.
The case reaches back to a night shaped by long-running tensions in the rap world and in Las Vegas street gangs. Shakur was then signed to Knight’s Death Row Records, which prosecutors link to the Bloods, while they describe Davis as a leader in the rival South Side Crips.
Those affiliations may help explain the prosecution’s claimed motive, but motive is not the same as proof. The central legal question is whether the evidence can establish Davis’ criminal responsibility beyond a reasonable doubt.
Why the testimony carries weight
For many people, Shakur’s death has existed for nearly three decades as a cultural mystery as much as an unsolved homicide. Court testimony replaces parts of that mythology with evidence presented under oath and subject to cross-examination.
Dale’s testimony gives jurors a narrow but intimate account of what happened after the shooting. Gavin’s testimony gives them a clinical explanation of the injuries and the medical response.
Neither account is designed to answer every public question about Shakur’s killing. Instead, each helps create a timeline: a traffic stop, a shooting minutes later, emergency treatment and death six days afterward.
That distinction is important in a case with enormous public attention. The trial is not a broad retelling of Shakur’s life or legacy; it is a legal proceeding focused on whether the state can prove its allegation against one defendant.
What remains to be proved
The testimony so far clarifies what witnesses and medical personnel observed, but it does not settle the full chain of events that led to the shooting. The jury will still need to weigh testimony about the alleged retaliation, Davis’ role and any evidence connecting him to the gunfire.
Defense challenges could focus on the reliability of memories from 1996, the limits of witness testimony and whether prosecutors can corroborate their narrative with sufficient evidence. A criminal charge and an indictment do not establish guilt.
There is also a difference between the reported phrase Dale heard in the ambulance and a definitive final statement. Dale testified that Shakur repeated “we’ll take care of it,” but he was unable to get further information about the assailants.
As the trial continues, the most consequential developments will be the evidence that directly addresses Davis’ alleged actions and intent. The painful medical details explain how Shakur died; the remaining testimony must address the separate question of who can legally be held responsible.
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