Phone call reportedly key to Tory Lanez’s shooting conviction surfaces online
A recording of a phone call that Tory Lanez made from prison that’s said to have been key to convicting him for shooting Megan Thee Stallion has surfaced online.
Lanez, real name Daystar Peterson, was last month found guilty of shooting the rapper in the foot in 2020, after a jury landed on the decision unanimously.
Now, a piece of evidence that was reportedly crucial to securing his conviction has been shared legally online, as confirmed to Rolling Stone by a court public information officer who said that the tape exhibit is publicly available following Lanez’s conviction.
In the audio Lanez is heard speaking on a call with Megan Thee Stallion‘s (real name Megan Pete) former friend Kelsey Harris who was present at the July 12, 2020 shooting.
Lanez reportedly placed the call to Harris at 9.05am, about five hours after the shooting. While he didn’t say outright that he shot Pete in the foot, he appeared to acknowledge that he did something wrong while being excessively drunk.
“I know she [Megan] probably never, ever gonna talk to me ever again,” Peterson is heard saying in the recording. “But I just want you to know, bruh, I was just so fucking drunk. I ain’t even know what the fuck was going on, bruh, like deadass. I’d never do some shit like that… I was just so fucking drunk, n***a, I just didn’t understand what the fuck was going on, bruh. Regardless, that’s not going to make anything right and that’s not going to make my actions right.”
As Rolling Stone notes, the phone call was featured in the prosecution’s case against Peterson. During the trial, Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott read from the call transcript and argued that it would take “mental gymnastics” to interpret it as anything other than an apology for wounding Pete.
Bott said: “The first call [Peterson] makes in custody is to Kelsey. What’s on the forefront of his mind? The event that put Megan in the hospital.”
Peterson was eventually found guilty on December 23, 2022 of all three charges against him: assault with a firearm causing great bodily injury; possession a concealed, loaded and unregistered firearm in a vehicle; and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
The rapper faces up to 22 years and eight months in prison, with his sentencing scheduled for January 27. Peterson is also a Canadian citizen and is facing potential deportation.
While parts of Peterson’s phone call to Harris were cited during the trial, the full audio was not available until last Thursday (December 29) when it was first shared by YouTuber Nique at Nite.
It was initially framed as a “leak”, however, the audio wasn’t limited to concealment since courts can release evidence after a trial has concluded.
A Los Angeles police officer testified in court in 2021 that Lanez had shouted, “Dance, bitch!” before shooting Pete in the foot during an argument that had unravelled after they’d attended a pool party at reality star Kylie Jenner’s house in California.
Pete recalled in court that tension had arisen in a car with Lanez after they left the party. Lanez allegedly told the rapper that she needed to “to stop lying to your friend” [Harris] regarding their sexual relationship.
The rapper then recalled later being let out of the car because she was “over it”. “I started walking away and I hear Tory yell, ‘Dance, bitch!’” she told the jury, adding that she saw Lanez pointing a gun at her. “I froze. I just felt shock. I felt hurt. I looked down at my feet and I see all of this blood.”
Elsewhere in Peterson’s call with Harris he said: “What happened happened, I can’t take it back. But I’m just telling you I’m sorry. I think I was just too drunk. When I got to the house, I assure you, all the top n****s gave me like five shots off the door. I was outta there.”
He later mentioned the argument that preceded the shooting but added: “I don’t even remember what we was even arguing about.”
A few moments later, he asked Harris to contact his security team to bail him out. Harris then told Peterson that news of the shooting had already begun to spread online even though “there’s no names released yet”.
Before the call ended Peterson apologised again and said: “I would’ve never did that shit if I wasn’t that drunk, bruh, you feel me?”
Peterson had long denied that he shot Pete after the party but during the two-week trial he refused to testify in his own defence.
Pete herself delivered an emotional three-hour testimony, during which she described feeling depressed about having to relive the “torture” of the altercation throughout her pursuit for justice.
The post Phone call reportedly key to Tory Lanez’s shooting conviction surfaces online appeared first on NME.
Charlotte Krol
NME
