a Timeline of Events up to His Trial
In July 2020, Megan Thee Stallion and Tory Lanez attended a party at Kylie Jenner’s house.
On July 12, 2020, a Megan Thee Stallion fan account reposted an Instagram Live video showing the rapper (born Megan Jovon Ruth Pete) partying with fellow rapper and singer Tory Lanez at Kylie Jenner’s house in Hollywood Hills, California. Both appeared to be swimming in Jenner’s pool.
“We had to come kill the streets for five minutes,” Megan, then 25, said while next to Jenner, then 22.
Seconds later, Lanez (born Daystar Peterson) joined them from another part of the pool, approaching the camera and posing for the fans.
—Thee Stallion HQ (@theestallionhq) July 12, 2020
Police responded to a report of gunfire and arrested Lanez on a felony count of carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle.
That same morning at about 4:30 a.m., the Los Angeles Police Department received reports of gunshots coming from outside a Hollywood Hills residence. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to Billboard that Lanez, then 27, was arrested on a felony count of carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle.
According to CBS News, the Canadian musician posted $35,000 bail and was released.
TMZ also originally reported that broken glass on the floor of the vehicle injured Megan’s foot during the incident. On July 15, 2020, the outlet published a video showing the “Traumazine” rapper at the scene of the incident walking backward toward the police cars with what appears to be blood on her feet.
Reports circulated that Lanez shot Megan.
On July 16, 2020, Page Six reported allegations that Lanez shot Megan during the incident. The outlet attributed their information to anonymous sources who claimed to have been on the scene.
Representatives for Megan and Lanez did not comment to Page Six.
August 2020: After initially remaining silent on the matter, Megan posted a photo of her gunshot wound to Instagram.
On August 19, 2020, Megan seemingly responded to anyone doubting that she had been shot by posting a photo of her injury. While the Instagram has since been deleted, outlets including TMZ and BuzzFeed have screenshots of the social media post.
“I usually don’t address internet bullshit but y’all people are so sick,” she wrote, in part. “God was really watching over me and I’m healing so well!”
The following day, Megan accused Lanez of shooting her during an Instagram Live.
“Tory shot me,” Megan said on Instagram Live on August 20, 2020.
She also addressed the reports from TMZ and other outlets about her injuries.
“I didn’t get cut by no glass, but let me tell you why they’re saying that,” she continued. “When the police came because the neighbors called the police … the police come — I’m scared. All this shit going on with the police … I didn’t want to die.”
She added that she was worried the police would shoot her since someone in the car had a gun.
During the same live session, Megan said that she had a verbal disagreement on July 12, 2020, with Lanez, his bodyguard, and her friend Kelsey Nicole as the four of them left Jenner’s home in Lanez’s car.
Megan also denied claims that she had been upset about Lanez showing interest in Kylie Jenner, according to Vulture.
October 2020: Los Angeles prosecutors charged Lanez with felony assault.
The former Los Angeles district attorney Jackie Lacey issued a statement on October 8, 2020, outlining the prosecutors’ theory of what took place.
“On July 12, the defendant and the 24-year-old victim got into an argument while riding in an SUV in the Hollywood Hills. The victim exited the vehicle and Peterson is accused of shooting several times at her feet and wounding her,” the statement read.
According to NBC, Lanez’s attorney pleaded not guilty on his behalf and the musician was issued a $190,000 bond.
On October 9, 2020, Lanez tweeted that the charges did not constitute a conviction. “The truth will come to the light … I have all faith in God to show that,” he wrote.
“Love to all my fans and people that have stayed true to me & know my heart … a charge is not a conviction,” he added.
—Tory Lanez (@torylanez) October 9, 2020
Megan wrote an op-ed about her experience to defend and ‘protect’ herself and other Black women.
In a New York Times op-ed on October 13, 2020, titled “Megan Thee Stallion: Why I Speak Up for Black Women,” Megan wrote that she and Lanez were not in a romantic relationship despite NBC and other outlets labeling Megan as his ex-girlfriend.
“I was recently the victim of an act of violence by a man. After a party, I was shot twice as I walked away from him,” she wrote.
“I’m not afraid of criticism, and ‘Protect Black women’ should not be controversial,” she added.
November 2020: In an interview with GQ, Megan explains why she withheld Lanez’s name at first.
In a GQ interview published November 16, 2020, Megan said the incident occurred during the peak of police brutality protests in the summer of 2020, so she initially withheld Lanez’s identity because she was worried she herself could be arrested or they would be the victims of police brutality if a gun was discovered.
Megan also told the publication Lanez “offered Megan and her friend money to stay quiet.”
“[At this point] I’m really scared,” Megan told GQ’s Allison P. Davis, “because this is like right in the middle of all the protesting. Police are just killing everybody for no reason, and I’m thinking, ‘I can’t believe you even think I want to take some money. Like, you just shot me.'”
A lawyer for Lanez denied to GQ at the time that the rapper offered Megan and her friend money.
July 2021: Prosecutors say Lanez violated the protection order after appearing at the Rolling Loud festival where Megan was performing.
Lanez was reprimanded for appearing as a surprise guest during Da Baby’s set on the closing day of the Rolling Loud festival in Miami on July 25, 2021. Shortly after Megan left the stage, Da Baby (a rapper featured on her songs “Crybaby” and “Pimp S—t”) and Lanez performed, according to Pitchfork. This violated the protection order because Lanez was closer to Megan than allowed, according to prosecutors.
Lanez’s bail was increased to $250,000 with the court found he had violated the protective order.
December 2021: A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge upheld the charges against Lanez in a hearing.
Los Angeles Police Det. Ryan Stogner testified on December 14 that Megan told him Lanez had yelled, “Dance, bitch,” before firing a weapon on the night in question.
“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.
The detective’s statements were recounted from an interview he conducted with Megan, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“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.”
April 2022: Prosecutors requested that Lanez’s bail be revoked following his tweets.
Lanez tweeted details about evidence, according to Buzzfeed, prompting prosecutors to request that Lanez’s bail be revoked for violating a discovery protective order and a temporary criminal restraining order associated with the case.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Herriford raised the bail to $350,000 on April 5, 2022. He also forbid Lanez from mentioning Megan “directly or indirectly,” saying that Lanez’s previous tweets seemed to be sending “clear messages” to Megan against court orders.
Megan opens up in an April interview with Gayle King.
On April 24, 2022 — nearly two years after the events of July 2020 sparked mass speculation — Megan sat down with “CBS Mornings” host Gayle King for her first televised interview about the incident.
“I was really scared, ’cause I had never been shot at before,” Megan told King during the interview.
Later King said she believed Megan on CBS News. “There is video evidence. We have the medical reports she still has bullet fragments in her feet to this day,” King said.
“It bothers me that despite all the evidence, people can still troll her on social media, try to take her down, and make her feel less than. I don’t understand that part of society we live in today,” King wrote a few days later for Oprah Daily on April 26, 2022.
October 2022: A Los Angeles county judge placed Lanez on house arrest.
In an Instagram post, singer August Alsina claimed that Lanez had attacked him when the two encountered one another at a Chicago concert.
Though Lanez refuted the claims in a live stream with hip-hop podcaster and YouTuber DJ Akademiks, he was placed on house arrest on October 26, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“Peterson was placed on house arrest today by the court starting Monday until his trial date as a result of his alleged altercation with August Alsina,” a spokesperson for the LA County district attorney said.
Kylie Jenner as well as her mother’s boyfriend Corey Gamble are listed as possible witnesses.
George G. Mgdesyan, defense attorney for Lanez, listed the two stars of Hulu’s “The Kardashians” as potential witnesses for the defense in the upcoming trial, according to Rolling Stone.
Mgdesyan implied they could possess information about the source of the events leading up to the July 2020 dispute, all of which could be relevant to the case.
“The argument, everything started there,” he told Rolling Stone on December 6, 2022.
A trial date of December 12 has been placed on the court docket. It is not confirmed whether Jenner or Gamble will testify.
A jury found Lanez guilty of all three charges he faced in connection with the shooting
On Friday, a Los Angeles jury convicted Lanez of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle, and discharging a firearm with gross negligence after the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office brought the charges against Lanez in 2020 and 2022.
Lanez now faces up to 22 years in prison on top of possible deportation to Canada.