A detective has testified that Tory Lanez yelled “dance, bitch” as he allegedly fired a gun at Megan Thee Stallion’s feet in July 2020.
During a preliminary hearing in the musician’s felony assault case, where Lanez is accused of shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the feet following a party in Los Angeles, LAPD detective Ryan Stogner testified based on interviews conducted with Megan, according to Rolling Stone, which first reported on the hearing. The 29-year-old MC was formally charged on Oct. 8, 2020 with one count of assault using a semiautomatic firearm and having “personally inflicted great bodily injury.” He was also charged with one count of carrying a “concealed, loaded, and unregistered” gun in a vehicle.
While the statement Lanez allegedly made to Megan has previously been covered, Stogner shared that Meg was “half in, half out” of a vehicle when the Canadian rapper reportedly shot toward her feet.
“Megan immediately felt pain to her feet, observed blood, fell to the ground, and then crawled to an adjacent driveway of a residence. … She described her injuries as bleeding profusely,” Stogner testified.
The detective continued, saying that Lanez—real name Daystar Peterson—“apologized for doing it and offered her money and begged her to please not say anything and made a reference to the fact he was already on probation and he begged her not to say anything.”
As reported by James Queally of the Los Angeles Times, Tory’s attorney Shawn Holley seemed to be “hinting that another person in the car (a friend of Megan Thee Stallion)” could have shot the gun. During the hearing, Holley asked Stogner if he “asked Megan how much she had to drink that day,” and said that “alcohol can impair a person’s perception and their ability to recall.” Holley also asked Stogner if he knew if Meg invited Tory to a party at Kylie Jenner’s house before the incident.
A source confirmed to Complex that an LAPD detective testified during the hearing about a jailhouse phone call Tory had with Megan’s then-friend Kelsey Nicole in which Tory apologized for shooting Megan. The call was recorded.
Dillon shared that Holley claimed another woman in the vehicle, who was a former assistant of Meg’s, “had a romantic interest in Tory” and that she became jealous and claimed the Houston rapper “back-doored” her. Holley reportedly claimed Tory told police he was “trying to protect my girl.”
A detective also testified that an independent witness, per TMZ, said they saw Megan and Kelsey “fighting just moments before Meg was shot in the foot… a piece of evidence [Lanez’s] team feels cast serious doubt on what Meg said about him being the shooter.”
Megan sounded off on “blogs/ journalists” reporting on the testimony shared during the hearing, saying, “I’ve been SHOT and the focus of some these headlines are dismissing that I was attacked with a WEPON WHILE I WAS UNARMED and trying to paint it as a cat fight between friends why do I have to relive this with everyone on the internet every day ?”
Judge Keith Borjon found probable cause to send Lanez to trial and ordered him to return to court on Jan. 13, according to Rolling Stone’s Nancy Dillon and confirmed by Complex. The reporter also noted that LAPD Officer Sandra Cabral spoke at the hearing, sharing that a gun found under Tory’s seat in the car “was warm to the touch,” and suggested that “the firearm had been used.”
Also during Tuesday’s hearing, per Queally, when a detective testified about Lanez acting apologetic to one of Megan’s friends on the phone, Tory yelled at the investigator, “How about you tell me what I was apologizing for bro? That don’t make no sense.”
Lanez faces a maximum sentence of 22 years and eight months in state prison, according to CBS 2, if he’s convicted as charged.
Weeks after the incident, Meg took to Instagram Live to explain her recollection of the July 2020 night, alleging for the first time that Tory shot her. In an attempt to clear up internet rumors, she alleged that he fired at her as she was attempting to leave the vehicle, and that he “got [his] publicist and [his] people going to these blogs, lying and shit.”
