US police search home in relation to 1996 killing of rapper Tupac

A leading figure in the 1990s US rap scene, Tupac Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting and the case remains unsolved nearly three decades later.

Police in Las Vegas have confirmed they served a search warrant this week in connection with the long-unsolved killing of legendary rapper Tupac Shakur, propelling the case back into the spotlight nearly 30 years after his death.

Shakur, one of the most prolific figures in hip-hop, was gunned down on the night of September 7, 1996, in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. He was 25.

Police searched a house outside of Las Vegas in connection with the killing, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said on Tuesday.

No additional information regarding who owned the house or what led police to conduct the search was given.

No arrests have ever been made in the killing of Shakur, yet attention on the case has endured for decades.

In a press statement, the police department said it “can confirm a search warrant was served in Henderson, Nevada on July 17, 2023, as part of the ongoing Tupac Shakur homicide investigation.”

Shakur was shot while sitting inside a black BMW with Marion “Suge” Knight, head of Death Row Records. He died in a hospital six days later.

Police have said the two were waiting at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip when a white Cadillac pulled up next to them and gunfire erupted.

Las Vegas police have said in the past that the investigation quickly stalled in part because witnesses refused to cooperate.

Shakur’s death came amid his feud with rap rival, the Notorious B.I.G., who was fatally shot six months later. At the time, both rappers were in the middle of the infamous East Coast-West Coast rivalry, which primarily defined the hip-hop scene during the mid-1990s.

The feud was ignited after Shakur was seriously wounded in another shooting during a robbery in the lobby of a midtown Manhattan hotel.

Shakur openly accused B.I.G. and Sean “Diddy” Combs of having prior knowledge of the shooting, which both vehemently denied. It sparked enough of a feud that created a serious divide within the hip-hop community and fans.

In 2017, Shakur was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by Snoop Dogg. In June of this year, Shakur – an award-winning rapper, activist and actor – was posthumously honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide.

Nevada does not have a time limit for prosecuting homicide cases.