'The streets knew': Old-time friend of Tupac asks why it took 27 years to make arrest

ATLANTA - A man is behind bars in connection with the deadly shooting of one of hip-hop’s biggest stars. Duane Davis was charged with murder decades after Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas.

It’s one of the biggest unsolved cases in the world of hip-hop: Who killed Tupac Shakur?

FOX 5 spoke with a man who knew Shakur before the world knew him. He said he wonders why it took decades to make just one arrest.

Mark Skeete was friends with Tupac when the rapper was an unknown talent.

"He was a dancer and a roadie, and he would go around freestyling for anyone he could freestyle for," Skeete said. "He was a good friend to all of us."

Skeete was a rapper and producer in the '90s with hip-hop group Digital Underground. He said he always knew Shakur was destined for greatness. 

"'Pac was a special one," Skeete said.

The six-time Grammy-nominated artist was gunned down in 1996 in Las Vegas. The rapper was traveling in a BMW with Death Row Records founder Suge Knight. They had just gotten into a fight at a hotel after watching a Mike Tyson bout. A car pulled alongside theirs. One man got out and opened fire. Shakur died days later.

INSIDE THE NIGHT THAT TUPAC SHAKUR WAS SHOT, AND WHAT LED UP TO THE FATAL GUNFIRE

"It was devastating. We lost an icon, and we lost a friend," Skeete said.

Police arrested Duane Davis last week, charging him with murder. Davis’s name had been linked to Shakur’s death for years. He’s the uncle of Orlando Anderson, the man authorities long suspected of pulling the trigger. Anderson denied any connection to Shakur’s murder. He died two years later in an unrelated gang shooting in California.

"If he did it, the family will finally get justice," Skeete said, referring to Davis’s arrest.

Still, he can't help but wonder why it took 27 years to arrest one person.

"The streets had the answers. The streets knew all along who did what, and how it happened," Skeete said.