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A Los Angeles jury has heard rapper Tory Lanez allegedly shot at Grammy-winner Megan Thee Stallion's feet after an argument in his car.
Lanez, 30, whose real name is Daystar Peterson, is currently on trial for three felony charges: assault with a firearm, assault with a semiautomatic firearm; carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle; and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
He denies all of the charges against him.
Prosecutors argued Lanez shot the 27-year-old singer—whose real name is Megan Pete—five times after Megan insulted Lanez's music career and the nature of their relationship. The jury heard how Megan asked to be let out of their car as they left a pool party at Kylie Jenner's house.
As she walked away from the car, Megan heard Lanez shout "dance, b****" as he fired at her feet on the sidewalk.
Megan was taken to the hospital moments later after their car was stopped by police. Several bullet fragments were removed by doctors from Megan's feet.
On Tuesday, December 13, Megan gave emotional testimony as she recalled to jurors what happened in the early hours of July 12, 2020, when the shooting allegedly took place.
Megan explained to the jury the shooting had left her with constant pain in her feet and that seeing the attack play out in the public eye had been "torture."
Recalling the night's events, Megan said she had wanted to leave the party at Jenner's home after her "hair [wig]" had started to "come off," adding Lanez "had an attitude because he wasn't ready to leave the party."
She said tensions began to rise in the car when Lanez allegedly asked Megan to stop "lying" about their intimate relationship with her best friend, Kelsey Harris. Megan told the court she knew Harris had a crush on Lanez and "didn't want her to know I had dealt with him in any kind of way."
Things then escalated when Lanez allegedly called Megan and Kelsey "b****** and h***."
Taking the stand, Megan said: "I just don't feel good. I can't believe I have to come in here and do this."
"I started walking away and I hear Tory yell, 'Dance, b****. I froze. I just felt shock. I felt hurt. I looked down at my feet, and I see all of this blood."
She continued: "Everything feels blurry."
Megan said: "I don't wanna be on this Earth. I wish he woulda shot and killed me if I knew I would go through this torture." She added that coming forward with the incident had caused her to "lose my confidence, lose my friends, lose myself. Damn, maybe I should be dead."
When police stopped the vehicle that Lanez and Megan were in, a gun, which was still warm to the touch, was recovered on the floor near where Lanez had been sitting, prosecutor Alex Bott said.
The jury heard how minutes after the shooting, a female friend texted Megan's security saying: "Help...Tory shot Meg."
The jury also heard that Lanez "profusely apologized for his actions" shortly afterward over a phone call, claiming he was "just too drunk" and had offered Megan and her longtime friend Kelsey Harris $1 million to keep quiet, reported The Guardian.
Initially, Megan told doctors at the hospital she had injured herself on broken glass and denied Lanez was involved in any shooting, fearing he would get in trouble.
She said during her testimony: "This was the height of police brutality and George Floyd. I felt like if I said this man has just shot me, they might shoot first and ask questions later. I didn't want to see anybody die. I didn't want to die."
Months after the shooting, Megan posted on her Instagram Live, where she told 90,000 live viewers: "Tory shot me. You shot me and you got your publicist and your people going to these blogs, lying, and s***. Stop lying! Why lie? I don't understand. I tried to keep the situation off the internet, but you dragging it! You really f****** dragging it!"
If convicted, Lanez faces up to 23 years in prison. The trial continues.
About the writer
Molli Mitchell is a Senior SEO TV and Film Newsweek Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on ... Read more