Tory Lanez goes to trial in Megan Thee Stallion shooting case: All the emotional revelations
Tory Lanez goes to trial in Megan Thee Stallion incident
Canadian rapper Tory Lanez is in court facing charges of felony assault two years after allegedly shooting fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion.
Ariana Triggs, Associated Press
Tory Lanez‘s shooting trial began Monday with opening statements, more than two years after Megan Thee Stallion accused the R&B artist of inflicting “great bodily injury” toward her.
In a criminal complaint, prosecutors said Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, fired a gun at a victim identified as “Megan P.” after she got out of an SUV during an argument in the Hollywood Hills on July 12, 2020. Megan’s legal name is Megan Pete.
At first, Los Angeles police reported the incident as shots fired, a woman with foot injuries and a man arrested on a weapons allegation. Megan revealed a few days later that her foot injuries came from gunshots.
Following months of speculation and publicity surrounding the incident, prosecutors charged Lanez in October 2020.
Lanez, charged with felony assault, pleaded not guilty in November 2020.
Jury selection in the case began Dec. 5. According to the Los Angeles Times, the trial is expected to last about eight days.
Keep reading for the biggest revelations out of the trial.
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Megan Thee Stallion takes the stand, recalls day of shooting
Dressed in a purple Sergio Hudson suit, Megan arrived at the courthouse Tuesday to testify she saw Lanez fire the handgun that injured her foot in the summer of 2020.
Megan took the stand Tuesday morning, getting emotional as she began answering questions, the Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone reported. “I just don’t feel good,” she said when asked if she was nervous. “I can’t believe I have to come up here and do this.”
Megan detailed the events leading up to the alleged shooting. She explained tensions began to escalate between her and Lanez during a car ride after leaving a party at Kylie Jenner’s house, per reports from LAT and Rolling Stone.
Megan said Lanez “had an attitude” because she had asked to leave the party early. The rapper added Lanez then told her she needed to “stop lying” to friend Kelsey Harris, who was also in the car, about their past sexual relationship.
The pair went on to trade barbs over their respective music careers, Megan said, prompting her to ask to be let out of the vehicle. However, as she began to walk away from the car, Megan said she heard Lanez say “dance, (expletive)” as the singer shot her.
“I’m in shock. I’m scared. I hear a gun going off, and I can’t believe he’s shooting at me,” Megan said. “He was holding the gun, pointing it at me.”
After getting back in the car, Megan said Lanez promised her and Harris $1 million to keep quiet about the assault. Megan said she refrained from initially reporting the shooting to police, citing heightened tensions surrounding police brutality at the time.
“This was the height of police brutality and George Floyd, and if I said this man just shot me, I didn’t know if they might shoot first and ask questions later,” Megan explained, adding that in the Black community “it’s not really acceptable to be cooperating with police officers.”
Megan Thee Stallion supporters rally for rapper: ‘This is about Black women’
A small group of Megan supporters rallied outside the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday to show their support for the rapper, according to images and video shared by the organization The Gathering For Justice on Instagram.
Fans also waited in the hallway outside the courtroom as the trial commenced. One of those fans, Michelle Walker, shouted a message of support to Megan as the rapper exited the courtroom at noon for a lunch break.
A rap artist herself, Walker told USA TODAY the trial raises issues “bigger than Megan.”
“This is about Black women as a whole,” she said, adding that racism and sexism make people less likely to believe Black women when they come forward with allegations of violence.
“She needs to know that we are here. Black women are here supporting,” Walker continued. “I wanted her to feel that love. That’s the key thing. I feel like I had to be here. I had to be a part of this to support her so she knows that someone is here.”
Karmilla Carneiro, another Megan supporter outside the courtroom Tuesday, said she’s proud of the rapper “for sticking her ground.”
“I really truly believe that what happened to her had happened to her,” she said. “She’s fighting for the change we need.”
Prosecution, defense give dueling opening statements
According to the Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone, the trial began Monday with the prosecution and Lanez’s defense offering opening statements that each painted a different version of events.
Per the outlets, Lanez’s lawyer George Mgdesyan argued that the altercation at the heart of the case was sparked by jealousy between Megan and her former friend Harris, both of whom had relationships with Lanez. Harris is set to testify.
The outlets report prosecutor Alexander Bott argued Lanez shot Megan after she insulted his musical abilities.
It is unclear if Lanez will testify.
Is Megan Thee Stallion on trial?
Megan did not press the charges and is not on trial.
On Monday, prosecutors added a new charge of discharging a firearm with gross negligence, according to Rolling Stone.
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Who shot Megan Thee Stallion?
More than a month after the incident, Megan said in an Instagram video that it was Lanez who fired shots at her. She slowly revealed more via social media in subsequent weeks.
“The way people have publicly questioned and debated whether I played a role in my own violent assault proves that my fears about discussing what happened were, unfortunately, warranted,” she wrote in an October 2020 New York Times op-ed.
The rapper also discussed the alleged incident in Rolling Stone’s July/August Hot Issue, telling the magazine that before the incident occurred she had a “real connection” with Lanez.
“I thought he knew me. And I never would’ve thought he would’ve shot at me at all,” Megan said in the interview. “I never did anything to him. There was an argument. People argue every day. Friends argue every day.”
Lanez has denied the claims
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Is Tory Lanez going to jail?
If convicted in the shooting, Lanez faces a maximum sentence of roughly 23 years. “I want him to go to jail,” she previously told Rolling Stone. “I want him to go under the jail.”
The day after he was charged, Lanez tweeted “the truth will come to the light” and “a charge is not a conviction.”
In April, Lanez was handcuffed and taken into custody for violating a protective order preventing him from contacting or harassing Megan or sharing pretrial information from the case. The rapper posted bail and was released several hours later.
While Lanez didn’t directly contact Megan, Judge David Herriford said some of his tweets appeared to be clear messages to her, and he ordered Lanez not to mention her in any social media posts.
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Contributing: Charles Trepany, Hannah Yasharoff and Edward Segarra, USA TODAY; Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press
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