The trial of the shooting incident involving Tory Lanez and Megan Thee Stallion began on Monday, December 12, with opening arguments.
Laying out what happened on the night Megan was allegedly shot in the foot by Tory, prosecutors allege that the Canadian singer fired 5 shots on the evening of July 12, 2020, striking the female rapper in both feet.
They claimed Tory released the gunshots because Megan insulted his skills by sarcastically calling him a “beautiful artist.”
Prosecutors also tendered Tory’s text messages where he admitted he was drunk and also apologized profusely.
‘Dance, b**h’ – that’s what the defendant said as he shot five rounds at the victim (Megan) with a semi-automatic firearm,’ Deputy District Attorney Alex Bott, told the jury Monday. ‘As a result, the victim sustained gunshot wounds to both feet.’
Wounded Megan hobbled to a nearby driveway, ‘leaving a trail of blood behind her and her assistant Harris went to her to try to comfort her,’ said Bott.
It was also alleged that Tory approached Megan’s former friend, Kelsey Harris and ‘physically assaulted her, pulled her by the hair and punched her/slapped her.’
Bott further alleged that Harris later sent a text message to Megan’s security guard saying, ‘Help. Tory shot Meg. 911′.
Since several 911 calls were made to cops by residents hear the shooting scene, the SUV was on a police watch and was stopped on Hollywood Boulevard where all the occupants were ordered out.
A gun was found inside the car and it was ion the ‘slide-lock’ position, meaning even single round in the gun had been fired, said Bott, adding that ‘The gun was still warm to the touch.’
Tory Lanez later tested positive for gunshot residue on his body and when the gun was tested for DNA, the Canadian rapper was one of four people who may have touched the weapon whose DNA ‘could not be eliminated.’
Within five hours Tory made a phone call to Harris while she was at the hospital with Megan, then sent a text direct to Megan apologizing and claiming he was drunk at the time of the shooting, said Bott.
The prosecutor added that the shooting could have had ‘potentially deadly’ results and ‘being drunk is no excuse.’
However, Tory Lanez’s lawyer, George Mgdesyan told the court that the case is ‘about jealousy’, before recounting Tory’s version of what happened in the early hours of July 12, 2020 after his client and Megan left a pool party at Jenner’s Hollywood Hills home.
Mgdesyan said Megan was ‘so upset and drunk and jealous’ at seeing Tory, her alleged former lover with Jenner, that the reality star told her: ‘It’s time for you to leave.’
They left in Lanez’s black SUV, even though ‘he didn’t want to leave, he wanted to stay with Kylie,’ said the attorney, adding that soon afterward, Megan’s friend and assistant, Kelsey Harris who was also in the car started arguing with the Canadian rapper.
According to Mgdesyan, Harris had had a previous romantic relationship with Lanez and Megan ‘went behind her back and started sleeping with him.’
Against that background, Megan and Harris started to argue and when the car stopped, the two got out and got into a fistfight, said the attorney who added that the fight was witnessed by a local resident who afterwards said he saw a woman holding a gun.
Lanez’ attorney, Mgdesyan, further suggested that it was Megan’s friend and assistant Harris who fired the gun. He also claimed that a gunshot residue was found on his client because ‘he was trying to stop her from shooting.’
And as for Lanez’ phone call from jail to Harris, in which he apologized and said ‘I was so f***ing drunk, I didn’t know what the f*** was going on’, the lawyer said, ‘The apology was not an apology for shooting.
‘He was apologizing for cheating on them (Megan and Harris), for having a sexual relationship with both of them.
‘Was he really the shooter or was he apologizing for disclosing facts which led to the shooting?’
Accusing Megan of lying, he added: ‘She cheated on her assistant and best friend – since then they have not spoken to each other in two and a half years.’
Mgdesyan urged the jury to ‘keep an open mind’ about ‘who got out of the car, how the fight started and who shot the gun.’
Megan, whose full name is Megan Jovon Ruth Pete, 27, has previously denied being in a romantic relationship with Lanez and has also shot down rumors that she had been upset at Lanez’s alleged interest in Kylie Jenner.
Tory Lanez who has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle, faces 12 years in prison if convicted.
Last week the LA District Attorney’s office added a third felony charge, discharging a firearm with gross negligence which carries an additional six-year jail term, plus possible deportation for the Canadian-born musician.
When LAPD Detective William Acosta was called to testify that he monitored Lanez’ phone call to Harris from jail less than five hours after the shooting, he admitted under cross examination that while Lanez ‘kept apologizing’, there was no mention of him shooting a gun.
‘I do not know why he was apologizing,’ he told the jury on Monday.
Tory Lanez is expected to take the stand on the second day of proceedings on Tuesday, December 13.
