A retired Los Angeles police detective has put one of the most controversial claims surrounding Tupac Shakur’s killing back in front of a jury. During the Tupac murder trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, retired LAPD detective Daryn Dupree testified about a 2008 interview in which Davis gave investigators his account of the fatal shooting. Dupree said investigators had originally been examining the murder of Christopher “The Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace when Davis began providing information about Shakur’s death.
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Dupree’s testimony also brought Sean “Diddy” Combs back into the discussion through allegations Davis allegedly made to investigators years ago. Dupree testified that Davis claimed Combs was supposed to provide money through Eric “Zip” Martin in connection with Shakur’s killing.During his testimony, Dupree explained the allegation in detail:
“Sean Puffy Combs was supposed to have given money to Zip Martin to give to Mr. Davis for payment of the Tupac murder. Fast forward, we go to Mr. Davis; he says he can rekindle that relationship with Mr. Zip Martin and get him to talk about the money that was given from Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs to Mr. Martin that never got to Mr. Davis.”
The testimony is significant because it describes what investigators say Davis told them long before his 2023 arrest. It does not prove that Diddy ordered Shakur’s killing, supplied money for it, or participated in the shooting. Dupree was recounting an allegation attributed to Davis, not presenting a judicial finding against Combs.
The allegation is also not new. In 2011, LA Weekly reported on recordings of Davis speaking with investigators and described similar claims involving Diddy and Martin. Davis later repeated versions of his account publicly, including through interviews and his memoir.
Combs has repeatedly denied involvement in Shakur’s death. ABC News has reported that allegations involving the Bad Boy mogul have circulated for years, while authorities have not charged him in connection with Shakur’s murder. That distinction remains important as the Tupac murder trial places decades of statements, interviews and competing accounts under new scrutiny.
Prosecutors are pursuing a separate case against Davis. According to Court TV, prosecutors allege Davis helped organize retaliation after Shakur and others attacked Davis’s nephew, Orlando Anderson, at the MGM Grand on September 7, 1996. Prosecutors contend Davis was inside the white Cadillac involved in the shooting and helped facilitate the attack. Davis is not accused of firing the shots that struck Shakur.
Shakur was shot while riding in a BMW driven by Death Row Records cofounder Marion “Suge” Knight following the Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon fight in Las Vegas. He died six days later on September 13, 1996. Davis was arrested and charged with murder in September 2023, making him the only person ever criminally charged in connection with Shakur’s killing.
The Tupac murder trial now depends heavily on what jurors believe about Davis’ own words. Prosecutors have pointed to years of interviews and public statements as evidence supporting their case. Davis’s defense has argued that he exaggerated stories about the killing for money, attention and notoriety.
That credibility fight makes Dupree’s testimony especially complicated. Prosecutors are asking jurors to take key portions of Davis’s past statements seriously, while the defense is challenging whether those statements can be trusted at all. The same issue follows allegations Davis made about other people.
Dupree’s testimony does not establish that Diddy paid for Shakur’s murder. What it adds is a clearer account of what Davis allegedly told investigators years ago, including his claim that money was supposed to move from Combs through Martin but never reached him. Nearly three decades after Shakur’s death, those old statements are now being examined inside a courtroom where Davis, not Combs, is the defendant.
