Diddy Combs Named on Witness List in Tupac Murder Trial

Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has been named on the witness list for the murder trial over rapper Tupac Shakur’s 1996 killing, as prosecutors linked him to defendant Duane “Keffe D” Davis.

Opening statements began this week in Las Vegas in the long-awaited trial over the drive-by shooting that killed the “California Love” hitmaker.

Davis, 63, is charged with one count of murder with the use of a deadly weapon, with an allegation that the crime was intended to promote, further or assist a criminal gang, the South Side Compton Crips, which he formerly led.

Prosecutors allege he ordered the attack and supplied the gun used, though they do not claim he pulled the trigger himself.

The proceedings began nearly 30 years after the 25-year-old musician was shot while riding in the passenger seat of a BMW driven by former Death Row Records boss Marion “Suge” Knight.

Case Traces Back To Rivalry Between Death Row And Bad Boy Records

Shakur had travelled to Las Vegas to watch a Mike Tyson boxing match at the MGM Grand on September 7, 1996, hours before a white Cadillac pulled alongside the BMW and gunfire erupted. He died from his injuries six days later.

The trial is expected to revisit the rivalry between Death Row Records, the West Coast label Knight founded, and Bad Boy Records, the East Coast label led by Combs, with prosecutors alleging that tensions between the two camps in the mid-1990s set the stage for the killing.

Davis, the only person ever charged in Shakur’s death, has entered a not guilty plea and faces up to life in prison if convicted.

His arrest in September 2023 followed the 2019 publication of his memoir, in which he described details of the night of the shooting without naming who fired the fatal shots.

Combs, who is currently serving a separate prison sentence following his own criminal conviction, has not been charged in connection with Shakur’s death.

His inclusion on the witness list signals that prosecutors intend to explore his alleged links to the events surrounding the killing as part of establishing the broader context for the jury.

Will the Mystery Death be Solved?

The trial is expected to run for about a month, with jury selection alone taking roughly a week.

Everyone else believed to have been present in the Cadillac on the night of the shooting has since died, leaving Davis as the only living figure prosecutors have been able to charge, largely on the strength of his own public statements and his 2019 memoir.

Shakur’s family has separately pursued a civil case over his death.

His stepbrother, Maurice Shakur, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in May, arguing that individuals involved in the killing have evaded accountability for three decades, a case that references the same alleged link between Davis and Combs now surfacing in the criminal trial.