Rapper Duane Davis, also known as Keefe D, Shakur's murder suspect, has pleaded not guilty in the court of the US city of Las Vegas, media reports.
In September, Davis was arrested in Las Vegas, being accused in a drive-by shooting of Shakur.
According to authorities, Davis plotted the crime to avenge the beating of his nephew, Orlando Anderson, by Shakur and members of his entourage on September 7, 1996, hours before the shooting.
The hotel security footage of Anderson's beating near elevators was demonstrated by police at a news conference after Davis' detention, the outlet revealed. The police said that the incident allegedly provoked the suspect to organize the retaliatory shooting, the report says.
According to the police, Anderson and two other men, Terrence Brown and Deandre Smith, were among those in a white Cadillac, from which the black BMW, where Shakur was sitting, was shot. Who fired the gun at Shakur was not specified by the police, the outlet noted.
Shakur died of his wounds six days later in a hospital. In 2002, Anderson was named as a suspect in the rapper's murder. However, Anderson himself was killed in 1998 during gang violence unrelated to Shakur's death. Brown and Smith, who were also allegedly in the Cadillac, have since died. In 2018, Davis claimed that Anderson committed the crime.
According to the hip-hop community, Shakur is one of the greatest and most influential hip-hop artists in history. He had a great impact on many hip-hop artists, including Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Drake, 50 Cent and others.