Why did Tory Lanez shoot Megan Thee Stallion? What we know about the incident as rapper sentenced to 10 years
Canadian rapper Tory Lanez has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting and wounding Grammy-winning hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion.
Lanez, 31, was convicted of three felonies in December: assault with a semiautomatic firearm; having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle; and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
The incident, which occurred in the Hollywood Hills in July 2020, left Megan Thee Stallion, 28, needing surgery to remove bullet fragments from her foot.
The case also sent waves through the music world, bringing up issues including the reluctance of black victims to speak to police, gender politics in hip-hop, online toxicity, protecting black women and the ramifications of misogynoir – a particular brand of misogyny black women experience.
Why did Tory Lanez shoot Megan Thee Stallion?
Megan testified during the trial that Lanez fired the gun at the back of her feet and shouted for her to dance as she walked away from an SUV in which they had been riding, after leaving a pool party at Kylie Jenner’s home.
She only revealed who had fired the gun months later.
“Since I was viciously shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a single day of peace,” she said in a statement read in court by a prosecutor on Monday. “Slowly but surely, I’m healing and coming back, but I will never be the same.”
Lanez, real name Daystar Peterson, said at the sentencing hearing: “If I could turn back the series of events that night and change them. The victim was my friend. The victim is someone I still care for to this day.
“Everything I did wrong that night, I take full responsibility for.”
What happened at the sentencing?
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Herriford handed down the sentence. He concluded that Megan, who was in an isolated area wearing only a bathing suit with no shoes, was an especially vulnerable victim when she was shot, but that Lanez was not overly cruel or callous in firing at her.
The judge said it was “difficult to reconcile” the portrait Lanez’s friends and family painted during the hearing of a kind, charitable person and good father to a six-year-old son with the person who fired the gun at Megan.
“Sometimes good people do bad things,” he said. “Actions have consequences, and there are no winners in this case.”
Prosecutors had sought a 13-year prison sentence. Legally, Lanez had been eligible for up to 22 years. Lanez’s team had requested either probation or a minimal prison sentence.
The rapper was given about 10 months of credit for time he has already served, most of it spent in jail since his conviction in December.
Lanez appeared to be stunned while the sentence was read, but gave no audible reaction. His family and fans in the courtroom also remained quiet after the sentence.
“We’re extremely disappointed,” Lanez’s lead attorney, Jose Baez, said outside the courthouse. “I have seen vehicular homicide and other cases where there’s death, and the defendant still gets less than 10 years.”
Mr Baez called the sentence “really just another example of someone being punished for their celebrity status and someone being utilised to set an example”, adding: “He’s not an example. He’s a human being.”
Lanez’s lawyers plan to appeal the verdict, and to attempt to have him released on bail while they do.
During Monday’s session, Lanez’s father, Sonstar Peterson, held back tears as he talked about how the rapper’s mother died when he was 11, just days after she first showed symptoms of the rare blood disorder that would lead to her death.
“I don’t think anybody ever gets over that,” he said. “But his music became his outlet.”
Megan, whose legal name is Megan Pete, was repeatedly praised by prosecutors for her courage in testifying during the case and enduring online campaigns of hatred directed at her.
“I hope that Miss Pete’s bravery gives hope to those who feel helpless,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascïn at a news conference after the sentencing.
