Was Megan Thee Stallion Shot? Trial, Appeals, and Aftermath

Yes, Megan Thee Stallion was shot. In the early hours of July 12, 2020, rapper Tory Lanez fired a handgun at her feet as she walked away from an SUV in the Hollywood Hills, leaving bullet fragments embedded in both feet and sending her into emergency surgery.¹ A Los Angeles jury convicted Lanez of three felonies in December 2022, and he is now serving a ten-year prison sentence after California’s appellate courts rejected every challenge to the verdict.²

What Happened That Night

Megan Pete (Megan Thee Stallion), Daystar Peterson (Tory Lanez), Megan’s then-friend and assistant Kelsey Harris, and a bodyguard had been at a party at Kylie Jenner’s home in the Hollywood Hills. An argument broke out inside the SUV as they left.³

Megan later testified that she got out of the vehicle and began walking away. Lanez, she said, shouted at her to “dance” and started firing at her feet.¹ She left a trail of blood at the scene. Minutes later, Kelsey Harris texted Megan’s security: “Help. Tory shot Meg. 911.”⁴

Megan testified that Lanez called her afterward to apologize, said he was “just too drunk,” and offered her and Harris one million dollars each to stay silent.⁵ Lanez was arrested that night for carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle.¹

The Medical Evidence

Megan was taken by ambulance to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where surgeons performed emergency surgery on both feet. Dr. Lee Haruno, the chief resident of orthopedic surgery, testified at trial that doctors identified four metallic bullet fragments. They removed what they could, but some fragments were too small to extract safely and remain in her feet. Dr. Haruno testified that those remaining fragments are the likely cause of Megan’s ongoing pain and nerve damage.⁶

Prosecutors presented X-rays at trial showing the metallic foreign bodies in both feet.⁷ Gunshot residue was found on both Lanez and Harris. DNA on the firearm was reported as inconclusive, though Megan’s legal team later noted the analysis indicated a 90 percent chance the shooter was male.⁸

Why She First Told Police She Stepped on Glass

When police arrived at the scene, Megan told officers she had stepped on broken glass. She testified that she was afraid of the police in the immediate aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, and that she was also afraid of Lanez. “I don’t feel safe in the car. I don’t feel safe with the police,” she told the jury.³ The bullet fragments discovered in surgery came later, which is why the earliest police report circulated online did not mention them.⁹

The Conviction and Sentence

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged Lanez in October 2020 with assault with a semiautomatic firearm and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle. A third charge, discharging a firearm with gross negligence, was added just before trial in December 2022. Prosecutors also alleged that Lanez “personally inflicted great bodily injury.”¹⁰ He pleaded not guilty.

On December 23, 2022, the jury found Lanez guilty of all three felony counts.¹⁰

On August 8, 2023, Judge David Herriford sentenced him to ten years in state prison, with credit for 305 days served. Prosecutors had sought thirteen years. The judge cited two aggravating factors, including that the victim was “particularly vulnerable,” and denied a defense motion for a new trial.²

Megan did not attend the hearing but submitted a written victim impact statement. “He not only shot me, he made a mockery of my trauma,” she wrote. “This is a statement for all survivors that their lives matter and there is zero tolerance for the torture that accompanies violence.”²

Kelsey Harris’s Testimony

Harris, the only other person in the SUV besides Megan and Lanez, was the trial’s most volatile witness. In a September 2022 recorded interview with prosecutors, she said she saw Lanez holding a gun pointed at Megan.¹¹

On the stand, she reversed course. She said she could not remember the shooting, blamed alcohol, anxiety, and postpartum depression, and repeatedly said “I honestly don’t remember.” She invoked her Fifth Amendment right when asked directly whether Lanez had shot Megan. Harris had been granted use immunity, though that immunity did not cover perjury. Judge Herriford allowed prosecutors to play the full 80-minute recording of her earlier interview for the jury as a prior inconsistent statement.¹² The defense’s theory that Harris was the actual shooter did not persuade the jury.

Appeals Rejected

Lanez’s attorneys argued there was insufficient evidence he was the shooter and raised eight alleged trial errors in their appellate brief. In November 2025, a three-justice panel of California’s Second District Court of Appeal rejected every argument in a 46-page unpublished opinion by Justice Anne H. Egerton, upholding both the conviction and the ten-year sentence.¹³

The panel rejected challenges to prosecutorial conduct, to the admission of Lanez’s tattoo photos and Harris’s recorded interview, and to the trial court’s ruling that his rap lyrics could be used for impeachment if he testified. The justices identified one error in jury instructions on the concealed firearm charge but ruled it harmless. The same panel had already denied two habeas corpus petitions from Lanez in August 2025.¹³

On February 25, 2026, the California Supreme Court refused to review the case, exhausting his state appellate options.¹⁴

Claims of New Evidence

In May 2025, U.S. Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida publicly asked California Governor Gavin Newsom to review the case and issue a pardon, calling the conviction “based on flawed evidence, political pressure, and prosecutorial bias.”¹⁵ A nonprofit, Unite The People, promoted an affidavit from a bodyguard named Bradley James who alleged Harris had admitted to firing the gun, and supporters pointed to surveillance camera footage they said exonerated Lanez.¹⁶

Megan’s attorney, Alex Spiro, issued a 31-page report on May 22, 2025, dismissing the claims as “unsworn rumors being spread as fact.” Spiro noted that the surveillance footage was not new; it had been admitted as evidence and played for the jury at the original trial. He also pointed out that James did not appear at the defense’s own press conference to substantiate his affidavit.¹⁷ Prosecutors have not moved to reopen the case, and Governor Newsom has not publicly responded to the pardon request.¹⁸

Why the “She Wasn’t Shot” Rumor Spread

Almost immediately after Megan identified Lanez as the shooter, she faced sustained doubt, ridicule, and hostility online and inside the music industry. Within two months, Lanez released an album with lyrics denying involvement and claiming he was being framed. Drake released a song implying Megan had lied.³

Bloggers and infotainment accounts pushed conspiracy theories. Some circulated a partial police report that predated her surgery and did not mention bullet fragments, using it to argue Megan had never been shot. Others promoted unsubstantiated claims about DNA evidence or attacked her personal life. Experts described the pattern as “misogynoir,” a form of misogyny targeting Black women.⁹

Megan addressed the toll publicly in September 2022: “It might be funny to y’all on the internet and just another messy topic for you to talk about but this is my real life and I’m real life hurt and traumatized.”⁹

At sentencing, District Attorney Alex Bott called the shooting “an act of misogyny towards Megan” and accused Lanez of weaponizing misinformation on social media to turn public opinion against her.³

The harassment continued after conviction. In January 2025, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard Bloom granted Megan a civil harassment restraining order against Lanez effective until January 9, 2030, requiring him to stay 100 yards away and barring him from harassing or threatening her. Megan’s petition alleged Lanez was orchestrating a harassment campaign from behind bars through third-party surrogates spreading false claims that the gun and bullet fragments had gone missing; call logs from the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi were cited as evidence. Lanez’s attorney argued the order was unnecessary because he was incarcerated and amounted to a “prior restraint on free speech.” Judge Bloom rejected those arguments, citing the “ripple effect” of the original violent act.¹⁹

Megan has also had success in civil court against one of the most vocal promoters of the doubt narrative. On December 1, 2025, a Florida federal jury found blogger Milagro Cooper (Milagro Gramz) liable for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and promotion of an altered sexual depiction of Megan, awarding damages that U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga set at $59,000.²⁰

Where Things Stand

Lanez, now 33, remains incarcerated in California, serving his ten-year sentence.²¹ With the California Supreme Court’s February 2026 denial of review, his state appeals are exhausted.¹⁴ As a Canadian citizen, he could face deportation proceedings upon release, though no formal immigration action has been publicly reported.²²

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NBC News Today. Megan Thee Stallion Tory Lanez Shooting
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New York Times. Tory Lanez Megan Thee Stallion Sentence
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NPR. Tory Lanez Megan Thee Stallion
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ABC 7. Megan Thee Stallion Kelsey Harris Testimony
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Business Insider. Surgeon Removed Bullet Fragments Megan Thee Stallions Feet Still Inside
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XXL Magazine. Tory Lanez Trial Evidence Texts Megan Thee Stallion X-Rays
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Rolling Stone. Megan Thee Stallion Lawyers Dismiss Tory Lanez New Evidence
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NBC News. Tory Lanez Trial Bloggers Gossip Megan Thee Stallion
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ABC News. Rapper Tory Lanez Set Sentenced Shooting Injuring Megan
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WUNC. Emotional Testimony Recanting Witnesses Week One of the Tory Lanez Assault Trial
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Variety. Kelsey Harris Testimony Megan Thee Stallion Shooting
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Billboard. Tory Lanez Megan Thee Stallion Shooting CA Court Rejects
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KESQ. CA Supreme Court Wont Review Case of Rapper Tory Lanez
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Billboard. Anna Paulina Luna Tory Lanez Pardon
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NewsNation. Tory Lanez Video Megan Thee Stallion Shooting
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Billboard. Megan Thee Stallion Lawyers No New Evidence Tory Lanez Case
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The 19th. Anna Paulina Luna Tory Lanez Misinformation
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Rolling Stone. Megan Thee Stallion Wins Restraining Order Against Tory Lanez
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NBC News. Megan Thee Stallion Wins Defamation Civil Suit Blogger
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USA Today. Tory Lanez Restraining Order Against Prison Guard
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BBC. Tory Lanez Sentenced