- A man who witnessed Megan Thee Stallion's 2020 shooting testified new details on Tuesday.
- Sean Kelly, a neighbor who saw the altercation, said he wasn't positive who fired the gun at first.
The owner of the home where Megan Thee Stallion was shot outside of in July 2020 offered explosive testimony in rapper Tory Lanez's trial on shooting charges, implicating Lanez, Megan's ex-best friend, and a chauffeur.
Lanez, whose birth name is Daystar Peterson, faces two charges: assault with a semiautomatic firearm, personal use of a firearm, and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle, as well as discharging a firearm with gross negligence relating to the conflict. The charges were brought by the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office in October 2020 in connection with the shooting of rapper Megan Thee Stallion.
Sean Kelly lives in the Hollywood Hills area and witnessed elements of the shooting and called 911 during the altercation, Kelly, counsel, and prosecutors claim.
Despite being the defense's witness, Kelly appeared to weaken the defense's suggestion that Kelsey definitively shot Megan — instead testifying that he saw "flashes" and then three people in the car with Megan physically assault her.
During his testimony on Tuesday, Kelly said that he saw muzzle flashes during the altercation on July 12, 2020. But, he said he was also distracted trying to make sure his son was OK — meaning he couldn't say for sure where the shots came from.
"I never saw a gun, I just saw flashes," Kelly said on Tuesday. "They were all together, very close."
Under questioning from Lanez's defense attorney George Mgdesyan, Kelly told the court that at least "four or five" of the noises and flashes he witnessed outside of his home came from Lanez, who he described as "very angry."
Kelly also offered conflicting testimony, saying that "a girl," apparently referencing Megan's ex-best friend Kelsey Harris, was near the first muzzle flash. Kelly emphasized his allegations that Lanez was shooting and that everyone was near each other fighting — making it difficult to make out what exactly was happening.
"I believe it was a girl first," Kelly said. He then focused a portion of his testimony on what he said were flashes coming from Lanez's direction. "He was firing everywhere," Kelly added. "He was very angry. He was shouting; the flashes then came from him."
While prosecutors conducted cross-examination, they brought up Kelly's 911 call the night of the incident in which Kelly said he witnessed two girls fighting. But he said eventually the two men in the car also stepped out and joined the altercation.
"The three of them were beating her," Kelly said of Megan. "She was in the fetal position. To me, it appeared they were going to throw her into the river...It appeared to me they were going to kill her."
Throughout the trial, Megan has testified that Lanez shot her that night, after a gathering at Kylie Jenner's house and a series of arguments between her, Harris, and Lanez.
Harris has denied that she shot Megan, and in a September 2022 interview with Los Angeles prosecutors, she said that Lanez shot Megan that night. But she did not elaborate or confirm those details when on the stand.
In an interview with prosecutors, Harris had previously said that Lanez's driver was in the car during the shooting, which Kelly denied on Tuesday.
"Everyone was fighting," Kelly said. "Even the driver."
On Tuesday, prosecutors also called LAPD criminalist Randy Zepeda to the stand as a rebuttal witness. He also testified last Friday, but prosecutors sought to address testimony from the defense's previous witness, a forensic scientist named Marc Scott Taylor.
Authorities conducted a DNA test of the gun used to shoot Megan and found "inconclusive" results as to whether Lanez's DNA was on the gun. This means that investigators were not able to confirm that his DNA was on the gun, but they also weren't able to rule him out.
Zepeda said at least one of the people handling the gun was male. There were three other sets of DNA found that could be either male or female.
Taylor argued that at least one set of DNA belonged to a female.
"Is it possible to remove DNA from the process of transfer?" Deputy DA Alexander Bott asked Zepeda, using the idea of wiping off a gun with napkins as an example.
"Yes, that could remove DNA," Zepeda said. "If you just got out of a pool, immediately after you would have significantly less DNA on your hands."
On Tuesday, prosecutors pushed for Lanez to take the stand in the trial to question him about legal issues in the past, song lyrics, and his social media posting. It's unclear if Lanez will take the stand.
The trial is set to wrap up this week. Lanez faces up to 22 years in prison if found guilty.