Canadian rapper Tory Lanez (30, real name Daystar Peterson) was found guilty by a Los Angeles jury on Friday of shooting fellow artist, Megan Thee Stallion. The rapper shot her in both feet after an argument about their romantic entanglements and careers.
A tasty gossip story
Lanez was convicted of assault with a semi-automatic pistol, carrying an unregistered loaded firearm in a vehicle, and discharging a firearm for gross negligence. He could face more than 20 years in prison.
The case received a lot of attention in the United States because it’s a tasty gossip story, but also because it brought attention to the treatment of black women in hip-hop and beyond.
Lanez wasn’t a well-known hip-hop name before the shootings. Subsequently, his followers and likes increased by a huge number as he received support different angles of the hip-hop world, in prominent blogs and by rappers like 50 Cent.
Fiancée
The shooting occurred in the summer of 2020 in a friend’s car following a party for reality star and beauty mogul Kylie Jenner in the Hollywood Hills. Lanez’s attorney argued in court that Lanez could not have been the shooter.
Megan Thee Stallion (see video below) testified that Lanez yelled at her and ordered her to “dance” in front of him and then fired multiple shots from the passenger seat of the car. She also said Lanez later apologized and offered her and her girlfriend Kelsey Harris $1 million each to keep quiet about what happened.
Lanez’s attorney acknowledged there was an argument about jealousy and a sexual relationship, but that Megan Thee Stallion lied “about everything.” The fiancee has made conflicting statements.
It is certain that all involved had had good drinks and that there had been a fierce argument.
Talk to the police
Initially, Lanez was arrested and charged only with concealing a firearm in the vehicle.
Megan Thee Stallion was very reluctant at first after the incident and even told police that her feet were bleeding so much from stepping on glass. She also didn’t want to talk to the police because that wasn’t acceptable in the hip-hop scene. She later described the scene as a boys’ club where women are afraid to report sexual assault and assault, also “because too often they are not believed”.
In the days and weeks following the incident, Megan Thee Stallion revealed online and in an interview with detectives who shot her. She eventually named Lanez after the shooter.
Even Megan Thee Stallion feared for her rap career. She later commented in her trail about her: Shots fired.
