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Topics: Music
Callum Jones
A Los Angeles court on Friday (23 December) found rapper Tory Lanez guilty of shooting hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion.
The incident that happened in July 2020 saw Stallion, 27, real name Megan Pete, wounded with bullet fragments in her feet.
The jury took just one day convicting Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, after the 30-year-old Canadian pleaded not guilty.
Lanez was convicted of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence - all of these counts could lead up to 22 years in prison.
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As the verdict was read, Lanez showed no visible reaction and was handcuffed at all times while in the courtroom.
After the jury left following the guilty verdict, Lanez’s father, Sonstar Peterson, piped up and began shouting in the court.
In the trial, Stallion told the court that she and Lanez had developed an intimate relationship in the months before the incident.
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The incident happened in a car, with Stallion asking to be let out of the luxury vehicle following an argument with Lanez.
The singer claimed that she saw Lanez pointing a gun at her and opened fire after he said 'dance, b****'.
She told the court: "I’m in shock. I’m scared. I hear the gun going off and I can’t believe he’s shooting at me.
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"I did not know he had a gun that night."
The gunshot ended up hitting her feet, but she agreed to get back into the car.
She claimed that Lanez was very apologetic about the situation and told Stallion that he'd give her a million dollars if she kept quiet.
When police stopped the car a short time afterwards, Stallion said that she had cut her feet on broken glass.
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In court, Prosecutor Kathy Ta said: "The defendant had a bruised ego because Megan was more successful than him,” Ta told jurors in her closing argument this week.
"She’s just disrespecting his rapping … He had a massive ego and could not handle being disrespected."
However, Lanez's lawyer George Mgdesyan said the investigation has been botched and that police had jumped to conclusions.
Stallion was not present in court for the verdict.
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The star - who won a coveted best new artist Grammy award last year - is best known for her hits including 'Savage', 'Thot Sh*t' and 'WAP' with fellow rapper Cardi B.