Rapper Tory Lanez guilty of shooting Megan Thee Stallion, US jury finds
24 Dec 2022 09:39am
Tory Lanez - Facebook
A trial in Los Angeles heard how he had ordered her to "Dance, bitch" as he shot at her feet when she got out of a car they were both riding in.
Lanez, 30, who pleaded not guilty, was convicted of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, discharging a firearm with gross negligence and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle.
Jurors took just a few hours to return their verdicts after a trial that had heard how the "WAP" hitmaker had been in a car with Lanez, his bodyguard and her friend Kelsey Harris after a party at Kylie Jenner's luxury home in July of 2020.
Megan Thee Stallion - whose real name is Megan Pete - told the court how she and Lanez had developed an intimate relationship in the months before the incident.
Harris, who only learned of the sexual relationship that night, had a "crush" on Lanez, she told the court, and an argument then erupted in the car, with Megan Thee Stallion demanding to be let out of the vehicle.
The "Savage" singer said she saw Lanez pointing a gun at her and opening fire "after he said, 'Dance, bitch.'"
"I'm in shock. I'm scared. I hear the gun going off and I can't believe he's shooting at me," she told the court.
"I did not know he had a gun that night."
In pain and bleeding from both feet, Megan Thee Stallion - who was wearing only a thong bikini - eventually agreed to get back into the car.
"He started apologizing," she said, and said to her "'Don't say anything and I'll give you a million dollars.'"
Police stopped the car a short time later, and Megan Thee Stallion was transported to a hospital for treatment, initially telling police that she had cut her feet on broken glass.
Prosecutor Kathy Ta said the row had come to a head because Lanez felt Megan Thee Stallion had "disrespected" his musical career.
"The defendant had a bruised ego because Megan was more successful than him," Ta told jurors in her closing argument this week.
"She's just disrespecting his rapping ... He had a massive ego and could not handle being disrespected."
Lanez's lawyer, George Mgdesyan contended the investigation had been botched, and that police had jumped to conclusions.
He insisted Harris was "the one who shot her friend" and that it had been a "case about jealousy" that had also involved a fistfight between the two women.
Lanez - whose real name is Daystar Peterson -- is scheduled to be sentenced on January 27.
He was remanded in custody immediately after Friday's hearing. - AFP
