LOS ANGELES – A very powerful testimony on the trial of rapper A$AP Rocky obtained second billing because the defendant’s companion and the mom of their youngsters sat quietly however shined vivid like a diamond within the viewers.
Rihanna confirmed up at his Los Angeles trial — the place he’s charged with two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm — for the primary time on Wednesday, sitting between his sister and mom as his former pal testified in regards to the second he alleges Rocky fired at him.
The singing famous person was escorted out and in of the courtroom surreptitiously, and was already sitting in Rocky’s part earlier than the jurors and the media entered. It’s not clear if the jurors seen she was there, however all different eyes within the room shifted to her.
Sporting an extended black costume with buttons that resembled an overcoat, she watched the proceedings calmly and periodically moved outsized, tortoiseshell glasses from atop her head to her eyes.
The witness, who goes by A$AP Relli and was born Terell Ephron, described the evening in November of 2021 when he and Rocky, their relationship straining, had a confrontation and scuffled on a Hollywood avenue, and Rocky pointed a gun at him earlier than strolling away.
He testified Wednesday that he was shouting at Rocky as he walked after him, then Rocky pulled the gun once more and held it within the air.
“He rotated after which it was like BOOM!” he informed the jury. “The entire thing was like a film, he type of like pointed down and he shot the primary shot.”
He stated he felt a burning on his hand the place a bullet grazed it.
Rocky, whose authorized identify is Rakim Athelston Mayers, might stand up to 24 years in jail. Sporting a tan sport coat and patterned tie, Rocky watched intently as Relli testified in regards to the second Rocky allegedly fired a gun at him on a Hollywood avenue in 2021.
Rocky fired one other shot that he did not see as a result of had hidden behind a mutual pal who was there with the rapper, who ran away after that.
He stated, “I felt my hand scorching,” and later added, “I used to be hit. Or I used to be grazed. I didn’t have a gap or nothing.”
Rocky’s lawyer, who will get to cross-examine Relli on Thursday, says the photographs he fired weren’t even from an actual gun — they had been blanks from a starter pistol that he carried as a prop. The lawyer stated Relli knew this, and that was why he was so fearless strolling after him.
“Oh it was an actual gun,” Relli testified underneath prosecution questioning, saying he knew due to his scraped hand.
Because the taking pictures, and his determination to go to police and testify, he has gotten dying threats and has been shunned as a snitch, he stated, and the modest music administration profession he constructed fell aside.
“It has been a residing hell,” Relli stated.
About an hour after the taking pictures, Relli returned to the scene and stated he photographed and recovered two shell casings. Earlier, whereas responding to a report of a taking pictures, police didn’t discover any.
He despatched a textual content to Rocky that was proven in courtroom saying “U attempt killing me.”
Rocky denied it in his reply.
“Bro wtf is u talkin bout why u inform ppl I shot at u.”
He despatched Rocky pictures of the shell casings and his grazed hand.
Rocky stated he was making stuff up and talking “all kind of nonsense” and was attempting to “extort” him.
Rocky and Rihanna, each 36, have two sons collectively: 2-year-old RZA Athelston Mayers and 1-year-old Riot Rose Mayers. Rihanna revealed she was pregnant with the younger boy after headlining the Tremendous Bowl halftime present in 2023 with a visual child bump.
The singer and the rapper, who’re each vogue moguls, first turned shut when he offered a verse to her 2012 track “Cockiness (Love It)” they usually carried out it on the MTV Video Music Awards. They turned a pair in 2020.
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