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.
Tory Lanez placed under house arrest while awaiting Megan Thee Stallion shooting trial
In interview, Kelsey Harris says she saw Tory Lanez shoot at Megan's feet
Kelsey Harris, a former friend of Megan's and a witness to the alleged shooting, said in a recorded interview played for jurors Friday that she saw Lanez fire a gun at Megan's feet.
The interview with prosecutors from September was played after Harris said on the stand Wednesday that she did not see Lanez firing the gun that left her former friend and boss wounded. She said she didn't remember other key details.
“He was shooting the gun,” Harris says on the recording, describing seeing Lanez standing beside an SUV in the Hollywood Hills, leaning over the front passenger-side door and pointing the gun at the ground near Megan.
After Lanez's lawyers suggested in their cross-examination that Harris had been pressured to make the statements, the judge allowed the prosecution to make the rare move of playing the entire 78-minute recording for the jury.
Harris was cordial in the recorded interview, in contrast to her evasive, at times combative time on the stand, and the prosecutors rarely had to prompt her. She said on the recording she had been drinking heavily, as others in the car had, and had been getting out of the car when she heard several shots. She then looked up to see Lanez firing more gunshots.
Harris' description of the night on the recording generally matched Megan's description from her testimony Tuesday, but differed slightly. Harris said Lanez remained silent as he fired. Megan had testified that he shouted "Dance, (expletive)" at her when he shot.
Kelsey Harris reportedly pleads the Fifth Amendment, takes stand in trial
During her testimony, Kelsey Harris, a former friend of Megan's and a witness to the alleged shooting, invoked her Fifth Amendment right to not provide testimony that could be self-incriminating, according to Rolling Stone.
The outlet reported Harris testified Wednesday to being in the car with Megan and Lanez before the alleged shooting. She said a fight broke out among all three of them and all three were verbally attacking each other.
Harris also confirmed on the stand she made a claim to prosecutors that Lanez threatened to shoot her while in the car, Rolling Stone reported.
When prosecutors asked Harris "what did (Lanez) do and what did he say," she asked the judge if she could "take my fifth," according to Rolling Stone. After conferring with her lawyer, Harris returned to the stand to invoke her Fifth Amendment right.
“I don’t want to be here,” she told the judge, per the outlet.
Before Harris took the stand, her lawyer told the judge she planned to assert her Fifth Amendment right, Rolling Stone reported. The outlet added the judge said he found Harris' concerns "legitimate" after an in-chambers proceeding on the issue. Prosecutors then offered Harris "use immunity" in exchange for her testimony, and she took the stand, the outlet said.
While on the stand, she denied that she herself had fired the gun, but wouldn't say Lanez did. When confronted with a text she sent to Megan's manager that read “Help. Tory shot meg. 911," Harris said she only assumed Lanez had done the shooting.
Harris described the trial as "triggering" and said she's suffering from "anxiety" and dealing with the birth of a child and a recent death, Rolling Stone reported.
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.
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
