Tory Lanez pleaded not guilty to charges related to allegedly shooting Megan Thee Stallion in second arraignment
- Tory Lanez pleaded not guilty to assault and weapons charges related to allegedly shooting Megan Thee Stallion.
- Megan Thee Stallion claimed that Lanez shot her in the foot after a party in the summer of 2020.
Rapper Tory Lanez pleaded not guilty via his attorney during his second arraignment on Thursday to charges related to the alleged shooting of Megan Thee Stallion in 2020.
At a December 14 hearing, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Keith Borjon upheld the charges against Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson. Lanez is accused of shooting rapper Stallion, whose real name is Megan Pete, outside of a party at Kylie Jenner's house in Los Angeles on July 12, 2020.
Lanez faces two counts of felony assault with a semiautomatic firearm and possessing a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and a charge that he personally used a firearm and inflicted great bodily injury. A pretrial hearing was set for Feb. 23.
During his testimony in December, Detective Ryan Stogner with the Los Angeles Police Department recalled an interview he had conducted with Stallion after the incident. Stogner testified that rapper Lanez yelled "Dance, bitch!" at Stallion as he allegedly shot at her, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"Megan stated the defendant 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," Stogner testified, according to the report.
"How about you tell me what I was apologizing for, bro?" Lanez shouted at Stogner during the hearing, according to the LA Times. "That don't make no sense."
If Lanez is convicted for the felony assault and weapons charges, alongside an allegation that he "personally inflicted great bodily injury," he could face up to 22 years in prison.
When police officers arrived at the scene on July 12, Stallion initially said her feet were cut from stepping on broken glass, TMZ first reported.
Two days later, Lanez was later arrested on charges of carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle.
It wasn't until late August that Stallion claimed Lanez was the person who shot her, also uploading and deleting photos of her injuries as people accused her of fabricating the story.
In a November 2020 GQ interview, Stallion said, during the peak of police brutality protests in the summer of 2020, she initially withheld Lanez' identity because "she worried they'd get arrested or end up victims of police brutality if they were found with a weapon."
Insider reached out to the attorneys representing Lanez and Stallion for comment.