James “Mob James” McDonald testified on August 20 in Duane “Keffe D” Davis’ trial for the murder of Tupac Shakur
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/tupac-and-suge-knight-072324-389523b3b9a2497a9b70fe8e7010fa22.jpg "Tupac Shakur and Marion Suge Knight.")
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NEED TO KNOW
- James “Mob James” McDonald testified he knew “everybody that was there” at the murder of Tupac Shakur but refused to name names, telling PEOPLE that he did not want to testify
- McDonald says Tupac didn’t know Orlando Anderson or Keffe D before the MGM Grand fight on the evening Shakur was murdered
- Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been charged with Tupac Shakur’s murder; he pleaded not guilty
James “Mob James” McDonald, a former Death Row Records associate who provided “under the table” security for Suge Knight, reluctantly took the witness stand Tuesday, August 18, in the murder trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis — telling jurors he knew “everybody that was there” the night Tupac Shakur was fatally shot, but refusing to name names.
McDonald, 61, told PEOPLE exclusively after court that he did not want to testify against Davis, who has pleaded not guilty to murder in connection with Shakur’s 1996 killing.
“I didn’t want to come. I believe in God, I’m raising my kids, I’m going to church. I got two granddaughters and a grandson that know the difference between right and wrong. I did it for them, I didn’t want to come,” he says. “But I came because they forced me to. They told me I would go to jail if I didn’t come. But my whole thing today… I didn’t want to send a Black man to prison because I have been incarcerated myself. The penitentiary didn’t help me do nothing.”
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McDonald, a former member of the Mob Piru Bloods, added: “I don’t like Keffe D but I don’t wish that on him. I don’t have to solve no case. The proof is in the pudding. He’s talking about being involved in committing a murder that he didn’t pay for yet. But I’m not going to be the one to send him to prison.”
McDonald said his decision to testify was also shaped by his own past.
“This helped me,” he said, pointing to his head. “I’m a survivor and I lived the worst of the worst. I woke up with a gun, I went to sleep with a gun. But I paid the time. I just didn’t want to do the same for Keffe D.”
On the stand, McDonald testified that he was working at Knight’s Las Vegas nightclub, Club 662, when he learned that Shakur and Knight had been wounded in a drive-by shooting on Sept. 7, 1996.
Under questioning from Davis’ defense attorney, Michael Sanft, McDonald grew visibly frustrated and repeatedly made clear he did not want to provide information that could hurt Davis.
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“Are you sure you want me to answer that?” McDonald replied in court. “I don’t want to send him to prison, even though we don’t like each other. You’re asking me questions that can hurt him. … You’re asking something that’s gonna hurt this dude.”
Sanft pressed McDonald about whether he knew who was present after the shooting.
“I know everybody that was there,” McDonald said in court.
When Sanft asked him to identify them, McDonald appeared stunned and turned toward Davis.
“Talk to your lawyer, man. This dude is tripping. I’m not gonna explain that. I can’t answer that,” McDonald said. “I’m not gonna send him to prison.”
McDonald testified that after the shooting, a “gang war” erupted between the Mob Piru Bloods, affiliated with Knight, and the South Side Compton Crips, of which Davis was a high-ranking member.
“When we got back to Compton, it was a gang war. People were getting hurt. People were looking for certain individuals,” he said in court. “Orlando, and certain other people, were being sought, because people wanted to kill them.”
Prosecutors allege the shooting was retaliation for a confrontation between Shakur and Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson inside the MGM Grand in Las Vegas earlier that night. McDonald tells PEOPLE that Shakur was not familiar with Anderson or Davis before the altercation.
According to McDonald, the confrontation began after Anderson was identified as one of the men who had allegedly tried to take a Death Row chain belonging to Trevon “Tre” Lane, a Death Row associate who had received the chain from Knight. McDonald explained someone allegedly pointed Anderson out to Shakur.
“Tupac didn’t know Orlando. He didn’t know Keffe D. He ain’t never seen these people,” McDonald says to PEOPLE. “All our homeboys were there, including my little brother. They were all getting paid to be gang members. All of them fresh out of prison and I was the smallest one. Now Tupac was told ‘That’s him that tried to take my chain,’ and Tupac took off to prove his loyalty and it cost him his life.”
“He should have minded his business,” McDonald added. “Instead of trying to join the fight, Suge should have got Tupac out of there. That didn’t happen because I wasn’t there. Because a lot of them would have had to pay for that one. Tupac should have never been in that situation.”
McDonald said the violence did not end with Shakur’s death.
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“Somebody from Bad Boy had to go and someone had to pay the price for Shakur. That was Biggie,” he said. “The gang life during that time… it was serious. If there was no repercussion for Tupac it wouldn’t look good for Suge. Someone had to pay.”
Reflecting on the violence that followed, McDonald says, “Biggie paid the price too. It’s just unfortunate they all killed each other for nothing.”
Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder with use of a deadly weapon. He has been in custody since his 2023 arrest.
After McDonald was excused, Reggie Wright Jr., Knight’s head of security at the time, took the witness stand on August 18. Wright testified that he was also at Club 662 the night Shakur was shot and identified McDonald’s brother, Alton “Buntry” McDonald, as part of Shakur and Knight’s entourage earlier that evening.
Wright testified about the MGM Grand fight, identifying Alton McDonald and another member of Knight’s security team, Roger “Neckbone” Williams, in surveillance footage of the altercation.
“I believe he was with them, but I don’t believe he was the one with the gun,” Wright said when asked whether Davis was involved in a separate confrontation at the 1996 Soul Train Awards.
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McDonald, meanwhile, questioned what Wright could have gained from Shakur’s death.
“We didn’t want Tupac gone because everyone goes back to robbing, killing and stealing,” McDonald said outside the courtroom. “That’s exactly what happened. What did Reggie benefit off that?” he questioned.
“I’ve known Reggie over 50 years. I love that family. But if Reggie is wrong, Reggie is f—ing wrong. But the Reggie I know would do it or could do it. But anyone is capable of anything. Just because you are a police officer doesn’t make you a good man. We all got hidden agendas.”
McDonald also accused Davis of trying to shift blame for Shakur’s killing. “Keffe D is just trying to point the blame on somebody else because he got himself in this situation. If I was in his shoes, I’d probably blame someone else too.”
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Davis’ defense has argued that his statements about the shooting, including in his memoir, were fabricated for entertainment and financial gain. Sanft said in court that prosecutors couldn’t even prove Davis was in Las Vegas that night, claiming they had no receipts, credit card records or photographs placing Davis at the MGM Grand despite the claims in his book.
Davis also had claimed Bad Boy Records CEO Sean “Diddy” Combs had once offered $1 million to have Knight and Shakur killed. Combs has denied the allegation. Davis said he was never paid.
The defense has sought to cast doubt not only on Davis’ statements, but also on the investigation itself. His attorney has also questioned why authorities did not charge Davis after a 2008 interview in which prosecutors say he discussed his role in the shooting.
“It’s because they knew he was full of crap,” Sanft told jurors. The trial is expected to last approximately one month, with an extensive witness list of over 200 names. Knight and Shakur’s family are among them.
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