Police reach potential breakthrough in Tupac Shakur murder case

Las Vegas police executed a search warrant in connection with the decades-dormant murder case of rapper Tupac Shakur, the department said Tuesday. 

"LVMPD can confirm a search warrant was served in Henderson, Nevada on July 17, 2023, as part of the ongoing Tupac Shakur homicide investigation," the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said, per ABC News. "We will have no further comment at this time."

The search warrant was conducted at a local Henderson home after homicide detectives gathered enough evidence to proceed, investigators told ABC. It is unclear what police were looking for, or how the home involved may have been connected to the case. 

Shakur, widely considered one of the greatest and most influential hip-hop artists in history, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip on Sept. 7, 1996. Killed at only 25, Shakur "saw his legend grow after his death, as dozens of posthumous albums, books, documentaries, and films were released," The New York Times noted. 

No suspect has ever been identified, and there has been little-to-no movement in the case in the 27 years since Shakur's death. Some have pointed to a possible connection between Shakur's death and that of rapper Notorious B.I.G., who was similarly gunned down in a drive-by shooting six in Brooklyn six months later. 

In 2015, Las Vegas police told the Los Angeles Times that the case had stalled not because of a lack of evidence, but because "witnesses in Shakur's entourage refused to cooperate" with the investigation. Following the recent search warrant, though, the evidence collected will be presented to a Las Vegas grand jury. While police believe the actual gunman is likely long dead, investigators told ABC there is hope that this new evidence could lead them to the gunman's accomplice.