One of the people who knew Tupac Shakur before superstardom believes the man who actually fired the shots that killed him will never face a courtroom. Ronald “Money B” Brooks of Digital Underground weighed in on the murder case as Duane “Keefe D” Davis headed to trial, saying years of talk surrounding the shooting have left him convinced that the gunman is already dead.
“The streets have talked for many years,” Money B said during an appearance on Jesse Weber Live. He pointed to Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, Keefe D’s nephew, as the person he has repeatedly heard identified as the shooter. Money B was careful not to present that belief as firsthand knowledge. “I’ve always heard that it was Orlando Anderson,” he said. “I don’t know … this is what I’ve heard, and this is the story that’s been going on.”
Anderson died in an unrelated Compton shooting in 1998. His name has followed the Tupac investigation for decades, and Keefe D himself previously identified his nephew as the gunman while discussing the September 1996 attack. Prosecutors do not need to establish that Anderson fired the fatal shots to convict Davis. Their case alleges Davis organized the retaliation after Tupac and members of the Death Row entourage attacked Anderson at the MGM Grand. They say Davis obtained the weapon before riding in the white Cadillac used in the shooting. Davis has pleaded not guilty.
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A 30-Year Mystery
The identity of the shooter is not completely settled even within the evidence that has emerged around the case. Denvonta “Dirt Rock” Lee gave grand jury testimony offering another account, saying Deandrae “Freaky” Smith told him that Anderson could not get a clear shot from the back seat. According to Lee’s testimony, Smith then took the weapon and fired instead.
Money B went further than identifying who he thinks pulled the trigger. He said he believes “other people and possibly other agencies” may have played some role in Tupac’s death or in allowing those responsible to escape. He did not provide evidence supporting that theory, and it is not the case prosecutors are presenting against Davis. His comments reflect his own suspicions after nearly three decades of unanswered questions surrounding his friend’s death.
His perspective comes from a relationship with Tupac that predates Death Row. Tupac worked with Digital Underground early in his career and appeared with the group before becoming a solo star. Money B remembers a young artist whose ambition went far beyond Rap. “His work ethic was like anything I’ve ever seen,” he said. Money B also recalled Tupac as someone who had been “raised to question authority” and believed his friend eventually would have devoted even more of his life to activism had he survived.
