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- Megan Thee Stallion claimed Tory Lanez shot at her feet following a 2020 argument.
- Tory was charged with felony assault in Oct. 2020 over the incident, and in Dec. 2022, he was found guilty on all counts stemming from the shooting.
- Tory Lanez was sentenced to 10 years in prison on August 8, 2023.
Since Megan Thee Stallion started building buzz in 2016, she has been destined for fame and fortune. Sadly, drama, controversy, and trauma have walked hand-in-hand with her success. After Megan accused fellow rapper Tory Lanez of shooting at her feet following an argument after a party in Hollywood in 2020, he was found guilty by a trial jury in Dec. 2022. On August 8, 2023, after two days in court, Tory was finally sentenced to a decade in prison, per Rolling Stone. Legal reporter Meghann Cuniff took to Twitter to share that Tory said in court that the fellow rapper is “someone I still care for dearly to this day.”
“I wish I could have handled this situation privately,” Megan said when speaking to Elle for their May 2023 issue. “That was my intention, but once my attacker made it public, everything changed. By the time I identified my attacker, I was completely drained. Many thought I was inexplicably healed because I was still smiling through the pain, still posting on social media, still performing, still dancing, and still releasing music. The truth is that I started falling into a depression.”
“I didn’t feel like making music,” she added. “I was in such a low place that I didn’t even know what I wanted to rap about. I wondered if people even cared anymore. There would be times that I’d literally be backstage or in my hotel, crying my eyes out, and then I’d have to pull Megan Pete together and be Megan Thee Stallion.”
“When the guilty verdict came on Dec. 23, 2022, it was more than just vindication for me,” said Megan, “it was a victory for every woman who has ever been shamed, dismissed, and blamed for a violent crime committed against them.”
What Happened with Megan Thee Stallion and Tory Lanez
The shooting between Meg and Tory (Daystar Peterson) occurred in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood in July 2020, around 4:30 AM. Tory and Megan were leaving a July 12 pool party hosted by Kylie Jenner. The two were joined by one of Megan’s friends and Lanez’s bodyguard. An argument ensued, and Megan demanded to be let out of the car. She later told police that Tory shot at her as she walked away.
Initial reports claimed that authorities were called to the scene after shots were fired in the air following an argument in the home. Witnesses told TMZ that an SUV in the same area sped off afterward. After the police got a description of the vehicle, they located it and found both Tory and Megan inside.
Footage taken at the scene showed Megan getting in the back of the police car with bloody feet. She was taken to a local hospital to be treated after she injured her foot stepping on “some broken glass,” but she would later say that was something she told officers because of George Floyd. Minneapolis police officers killed Floyd just two months before this Lanez-Stallion incident, and Megan was worried for the safety of others. Tory was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon inside a vehicle.
Less than two weeks after the incident, Megan went on Instagram Live and said she was “shot…in both of my feet, and I had to get surgery to get the sh*t taken out, to get the bullets taken out. And it was super scary.” She didn’t name her shooter but shared that she was traumatized by the incident. “Oh Lord, I didn’t think I was going to cry. But yeah, I had to get surgery, and it was super scary. Just the worst experience of my life. And it’s not funny. There’s nothing to joke about. It was nothing for y’all to make up stories about,” she told fans.
Fans online quickly made a mockery of Megan through memes and tweets. They doubted if she was really shot, defended Tory, and ridiculed her confession. The online hate got too much for her. That August, she went on IG Live to accuse Tory. “Yes…Tory shot me,” she said before addressing him directly. “You shot me. and you got your publicist and your people going to these blogs, lying and s–t…stop lying.”
Megan said that she was “just trying to get home” from the party and that when the police arrived, the officer was “really aggressive.” “Even though he shot me, I tried to spare him,” said Megan, citing George Floyd. “Why the fuck would I tell [the police] somebody got a gun in this car, and this n—- shot me? So I can get shot, you can get shot, she can get shot, he can get shot?”
Tory denied shooting Meg before and after her August 2020 IG accusation. In September 2020, he released DAYSTAR, an album that included “Money Over Fallouts,” a track in which he accused Megan of “tryin’ to frame me” and she “had the nerve to write that statement on an affidavit/Knowing I ain’t do it, but I’m coming at my truest.” The entire album was Tory’s response to the accusations, and many critics refused to review it.
“Tory says he still has feelings for Megan, but if he truly cared about her, he wouldn’t have released an entire project attempting to make money off of her trauma,” Complex wrote about the album. “Tory Lanez released a 17-track tirade exploiting Megan’s pain, all in hopes to salvage his career and win favor from men who are just as fragile as him. Based on the project’s status atop the iTunes charts and the harassment in Megan’s Instagram comments, it appears he found enough of them to believe his story. The circumstance is another indictment on patriarchy.”
Megan would initially deny having a relationship with Tory beyond a friendship. However, in the 2022 trial, she would admit that she and Tory were involved sexually. “This whole story was about who I’m having sex with, and I don’t understand why that matters,” she said according to Rolling Stone‘s Nancy Dillion, explaining that she was embarrassed over the whole affair. “It’s disgusting at this point. How can I share my body with somebody who could shoot me?”
In October 2020, Tory was officially charged with one felony count of assault with a semiautomatic firearm – personal use of a firearm – and one count of carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle. He pleaded not guilty in November 2020.
“[Time] will [tell] … and the truth will come to the light,” Tory tweeted on Oct. 9, 2020, a day after he was charged. “I have all faith in God to show that … love to all my fans and people that have stayed true to me & know my heart … a charge is not a conviction. If you have supported me or meg thru this, I genuinely appreciate u.” Later that month, he went on IG Live to deny the charges more. Megan responded by saying that Tory was “genuinely crazy.”
Tory has tried to get the case against him dismissed, but the charges were upheld in December 2021, per the Los Angeles Times. In July 2021, DaBaby – who had worked with Megan on the song “Cry Baby” but had fallen out with her – brought Tory out onstage during his set at Rolling Loud Miami, which took place right after Megan performed at the festival. The two performed their collab, “SKAT,” before doing a cover of Megan’s song, “Cash Shit.” DaBaby would then go on his now-infamous homophobic rant, and the disrespect towards Megan would get lost in the shuffle.
In August 2021, prosecutors argued that Tory be held “in contempt for violating the restraining order” that Megan got against Tory. He is not allowed to go within 100 yards of Megan, and prosecutors argued that his appearance at Rolling Loud violated this. A judge ruled that Tory’s bail be increased from $190k to $250k, per TMZ. Tory wouldn’t serve any jail time for the Rolling Loud appearance, but the judge modified the conditions so Lanez could not attend events where Megan would be present. If he does, he will be taken into custody.
Megan spoke about the incident for the first time when she sat down with Gayle King in April 2022. “It was an argument because I was ready to go, and everybody else wasn’t ready to go. But that’s, like, normal friend stuff,” said Megan, per CBS News. “I never put my hands on anybody. I never raised my voice too loud. It shouldn’t have got this crazy. The argument was with the two people in the back seat. So I asked the driver to pull the car over. Like, I’m done with this. And I should have stayed out of the car. Like, I should have not gotten back in the car. And they was like, ‘Megan, just get back in the car. We’re almost there.’ And, like, just, ‘Get back in.’ So I get back in the car. It’s… getting worse.”
“So I get out of the car, and it’s like everything happens so fast,” Megan told King. “And all I hear is this man screaming. And he said, ‘Dance, bitch.’ And he started shooting. And I’m just like, ‘Oh, my God.’ Like, he shot a couple of times. And I was so scared.”
“He is standing up over the window shooting,” said Megan. “And I didn’t even want to move. I didn’t want to move too quick,” the rapper said. She told King that at the time, she thought, “I don’t know if he’s gonna shoot something that’s, like, super important. I don’t know if he could shoot me and kill me.” Tory reportedly immediately apologized to Megan after the alleged shooting and offered everyone “a million dollars if y’all don’t say nothing.”
In an April 2022 court appearance, Tory was handcuffed and detained for allegedly violating the terms of his partial release.
In June 2022, Megan mourned the connection she had with Tory. The two had bonded over both losing their mothers. “I thought we had a real connection,” she told Rolling Stone. “I thought he knew me. And I never thought he would’ve shot at me at all,” she said. “I never put my hands on this man. I never did anything to him. There was an argument. People argue every day. Friends argue every day.”
“For anyone who has survived violence, please know your feelings are valid,” Megan said in 2023 when speaking with Elle magazine. “You matter. You are not at fault. You are important. You are loved. You are not defined by your trauma. You can continue to write beautiful, new chapters to your life story. Just because you are in a bad situation doesn’t mean you are a bad person. Our value doesn’t come from the opinions of other people. As long as you stand your ground and live in your truth, nobody can take your power.”
The Evidence
The medical report from the shooting claims that doctors found three major bullet fragments in Megan’s feet after Tory allegedly shot her, per Page Six. Megan was brought to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on July 12, 2020. She was admitted under a pseudonym and was “alert,” “oriented,” and “breathing comfortably,” according to Page Six. She had a “small wound” to her posterior ankle with “no active bleeding” before a more in-depth evaluation.
Megan told Rolling Stone that she had “to get the surgery the same night [as the alleged shooting]” and that she stayed in the hospital for about four days. “Then I was in New York for a while. Both of my legs wrapped up. I could not walk. I still have bullet fragments in my feet right now.”
In April 2022, Tory was reportedly handcuffed during a court hearing after a judge ruled that he violated a protective order by talking about Meg on social media. Prosecutors also expressed concern over DJ Akademiks tweeting in February 2022 that “Tory Lanez DNA WAS NOT found on the weapon in the Meg Thee Stallion case,” information that was both wrong and not made to the public. PolitiFact notes that during the pre-trial hearing, no one said that Tory’s DNA was not found on the weapon.
Tory’s lawyer, Shawn Holley, “confirmed the swab on the gun came back ‘inconclusive’ with four contributors while the magazine swab ‘excluded’ Lanez,” according to Rolling Stone’s Nancy Dillion. Because of this second-hand account, fans argued online that either the swab didn’t have Tory’s DNA on it or that Tory never submitted his DNA, per Uproxx.
In September 2022, Tory was placed under house arrest following accusations from August Alsina. The R&B singer, best known for his “entanglement” with Jada Pinkett Smith, accused Tory of beating him up in Chicago. While no charges were filed, prosecutors argued that Lanez violated his bail, and a judge ruled Tory is to remain under house arrest until his Nov. 28 trial over the Meg shooting.
The trial did commence on Nov. 28, and after more than three weeks, a jury found Tory guilty on all counts that he was being charged with.
The Aftermath
In March 2023, Lanez’s attorneys, Jose Baez and Matthew Barhoma, filed a motion for a new trial, according to ABC News. They reportedly argued ” in part that certain evidence presented at trial and some statements made by witnesses on the stand were prejudicial to their client, including an Instagram post and a photo of Lanez’s gun tattoo.” The motion also reportedly takes issue “with the forensic testing and claims that Lanez’s right to counsel of his choice was violated.” The motion has delayed Lanez’s sentencing, and his team said in April they planned to file a May 1 supplemental response to the motion, which will further delay the sentencing.
On August 8, 2023, Tory was finally sentenced in Los Angeles to 10 years in prison for the shooting injury of Megan Thee Stallion. Previously, on August 7, Megan shared an emotional victim impact statement delivered by Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta. “Since I was viciously shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a single day of peace,” Megan wrote in part. “Slowly but surely, I’m healing and coming back, but I will never be the same.”
“These last few months, I’ve been healing after being in such a dark place,” Megan previously told Elle for the May 2023 issue. “The physical and mental scars from this entire ordeal will always sting, but I’m taking the appropriate steps to resume my life. I’ve spent the last few months off social media and taking time off for myself, spending time with my dogs, hanging out with my manager, Farris, and doing a lot of praying… I’m in a happier place, but I still have anxiety.”
“Talking about being shot still makes me emotional,” she explained. “I’ve started journaling as a way to better process my thoughts, hopes, and fears. Prayer has also played a therapeutic role in my healing, because I can have honest and unfiltered conversations with God without any judgment. But that’s the process of healing: It’s an ongoing process with moments of fear and uncertainty mixed in with blissful realization. I’ve accepted this chapter of my life as part of my journey, but I will not allow it to define my journey. I’ve been dragged through the mud, but I’m so happy that I’m able to finally come out of it with a new perspective.”
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