Las Vegas police have arrested a man in the deadly 1996 , a long-awaited break in a case that has frustrated investigators and fascinated the public ever since the hip-hop icon was gunned down on the Las Vegas Strip 27 years ago.

Duane 鈥淜effe D鈥� Davis was arrested early Friday morning, although the exact charge or charges were not immediately clear, according to two officials with first-hand knowledge of the arrest. They were not authorized to speak publicly ahead of an expected indictment later Friday.

Davis has long been known to investigators and has himself admitted in interviews and in his 2019 tell-all memoir, 鈥淐ompton Street Legend,鈥� that he was in the Cadillac where the gunfire erupted during the September 1996 drive-by shooting. Shakur was 25 when he was gunned down.

The arrest comes two months after July 17 in neighboring Henderson. Documents said police were looking for items 鈥渃oncerning the murder of Tupac Shakur.鈥�

Police reported collecting multiple computers, a cellphone and hard drive, a Vibe magazine that featured Shakur, several .40-caliber bullets, two 鈥渢ubs containing photographs鈥� and a copy of Davis鈥� 2019 tell-all memoir, 鈥淐ompton Street Legend.鈥�

In the book, Davis said he broke his silence over Tupac鈥檚 killing in 2010 during a closed-door meeting with federal and local authorities. At the time, he was 46 and facing life in prison on drug charges when he agreed to speak with the authorities.

鈥淭hey promised they would shred the indictment and stop the grand jury if I helped them out,鈥� he wrote.

He has described himself as one of the last living witnesses to the shooting.

Shakur was 25 when he was gunned down in a drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip on the night of Sept. 7, 1996. The rapper was in a BMW driven by Death Row Records founder Marion 鈥淪uge鈥� Knight in a convoy of about 10 cars. They were waiting at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up next to them and gunfire erupted.

Shakur was shot multiple times and died a week later.

In 2018, after a cancer diagnosis, Davis admitted publicly in an interview for a BET show to being inside the Cadillac during the attack. He implicated his nephew, Orlando 鈥淏aby Lane鈥� Anderson, saying he was one of two people in the back seat where the shots were fired.

The shooting happened shortly after a casino brawl earlier in the evening involving Anderson, Shakur and others.

Anderson denied any involvement in the Shakur shooting. He died two years later in a shooting in Compton, California.

Shakur鈥檚 death came as his fourth solo album, 鈥淎ll Eyez on Me,鈥� remained on the charts, with some 5 million copies sold. Nominated Shakur is largely considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time.

Shakur was feuding at the time with rap rival Biggie Smalls, also known as the , who was fatally shot in March 1997. At the time, both rappers were in the middle of an East Coast-West Coast rivalry that primarily defined the hip-hop scene during the mid-1990s.

Greg Kading, a retired Los Angeles police detective who spent years investigating the Shakur killing and wrote a book about it, said he would not be surprised by Davis鈥檚 indictment and arrest.

鈥淚t鈥檚 so long overdue,鈥� Kading told The Associated Press during a recent interview. 鈥淧eople have been yearning for him to be arrested for a long time. It鈥檚 never been unsolved in our minds. It鈥檚 been unprosecuted.鈥�

Kading said he interviewed Davis in 2008 and 2009, during Los Angeles police investigations of the killings of Shakur in Las Vegas and the slaying of Biggie Smalls.

Kading said also that he talked with a Las Vegas police detective about the case, including after the SWAT raid in July at the home in Henderson.

The former Los Angeles police detective said he believed the investigation gained new momentum in recent years following Davis鈥檚 public descriptions of his role in the killing, including his 2019 tell-all memoir, 鈥淐ompton Street Legend.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 those events that have given Las Vegas the ammunition and the leverage to move forward,鈥� Kading said. 鈥淧rior to Keefe D鈥檚 public declarations, the cases were unprosecutable as they stood.鈥�

鈥淗e put himself squarely in the middle of the conspiracy,鈥� Kading said of Davis and the Shakur slaying. 鈥淗e had acquired the gun, he had given the gun to the shooter and he had been present in the vehicle when they hunted down and located both Tupac and Suge (Knight).鈥�

Kading noted that Davis is the last living person among the four people who were in the vehicle from which shots were fired at Shakur and rapper Marion 鈥淪uge鈥� Knight. Others were Davis鈥檚 nephew, Orlando 鈥淏aby Lane鈥� Anderson, Terrence 鈥淏ubble Up鈥� Brown and DeAndre 鈥淔reaky鈥� Smith.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a concerted effort of conspirators,鈥� Kading said, adding that he believed that because the killing was premeditated Davis could face a first-degree murder charge.

鈥淎ll the other direct conspirators or participants are all dead,鈥� Kading said. 鈥淜eefe D is the last man standing among the individuals that conspired to kill Tupac.鈥�