The renowned rapper, Tory Lanez, has been given a 10-year imprisonment term for shooting fellow rapper, Megan Thee Stallion, and causing injury to her feet following a party in the Hollywood Hills in July 2020.
More than seven months have passed since the 31-year-old Lanez was found guilty of three serious crimes: assaulting with a semiautomatic firearm, possessing a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle, and recklessly discharging a firearm.
David Herriford, the Judge in the Los Angeles Superior Court who pronounced the verdict on Tuesday, expressed difficulty in reconciling the kind-hearted, charitable man and good father that many people described Lanez as, with the person who fired the weapon at Megan Thee Stallion.
Megan Thee Stallion, the Grammy Award-winning rapper, chose not to attend the sentencing hearing, stating that she could not bear to be in the same room as Lanez. However, she wrote a statement that was read in court on Monday, according to the New York Times.
In the statement conveyed by a prosecutor on Monday, Megan Thee Stallion revealed that she had to undergo surgery to extract bullet fragments.
“Ever since the defendant viciously shot me, I have not had a single day of peace. Slowly but surely, I am recovering and moving forward, but I will never be the same,” Megan Thee Stallion declared.
In her testimony, Megan Thee Stallion stated that Lanez fired the gun at the back of her feet and demanded that she dance as she walked away from an SUV in which they had been traveling in July 2020, after leaving a pool party at Kylie Jenner’s residence in Hollywood Hills.
Just before the pronouncement of the sentence, Lanez pleaded for clemency, requesting either probation or a minimal prison term.
“If I could go back and alter the sequence of events that night,” Lanez stated, “I would. The victim was my friend. I still care for the victim to this day.”
He added, “I fully take responsibility for everything I did wrong that night.”
The shooting incident was preceded by a heated argument that escalated when the two began attacking each other’s music careers, as Megan Thee Stallion disclosed during the two-week trial.
“Not only did he shoot me, but he also trivialized my trauma,” the statement expressed. “This is a message for all survivors that their lives matter, and there is absolutely no tolerance for the torment that accompanies violence.”
In 2021, Megan Thee Stallion received three Grammy awards for Best New Artist, Best Rap Performance, and Best Rap Song.
