Rapper A$AP Rocky pleads not guilty to shooting at his friend on a Hollywood sidewalk
Rapper A$AP Rocky – boyfriend of singing superstar Rihanna and father of her three month-old baby boy – pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles today to shooting at a former friend and music partner during an argument.
Charged with two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, Rocky – real name Rakim Mayers – is facing up to four years in jail on each charge if he’s convicted.
At his criminal court arraignment today in downtown LA, the 33 year-old hip-hop artist showed up in dark blue suit and tie, with his hair braided in corn rows, and flanked by several dark-suited minders
When Judge Victoria Wilson asked Mayers how he wanted to plead today, his attorney, Sara Caplan, entered a plea of ‘not guilty’ to both charges.
The shooting occurred in November 2021, when his girlfriend, Rihanna, was four months pregnant
The judge continued Mayers’ $550,000 bail and scheduled a pre-trial hearing November 2.
And she issued a protective order, meaning that Mayers must not ‘attack or harass’ his alleged victim – fellow rapper Terell Ephron – or contact him or come within 100 yards of him.
Judge Wilson also ruled that Mayers could not ‘own or possess’ any firearms and ordered him to hand in any guns he already has.
The charges arise from an altercation in Hollywood last November 6 between Mayers and Ephron – whose stage name is ASAP Relli and who was a member with Rocky in the ASAP Mob rap group that started in Harlem in 2006.
Prosecutors say that during the argument, Mayers pointed the handgun at Ephron, then fired it twice toward him, injuring his hand.
Ephron this week filed a civil assault and battery lawsuit in LA against Mayers in which his attorneys say that Mayers, ‘pulled out a handgun and purposefully pointed it in the direction of (Ephron) and fired multiple shots.’
Adding that Ephron was ‘in fear for his life,’ the suit says that Ephron was ‘struck by bullet projectile/fragments’ causing him injuries that required medical attention.
In court today, attorney Caplan asked that the protective order the judge issued against Mayers be ‘mutual’ – that Ephron should also be ordered not to attack or harass Rocky and stay 100 years away from him – because Mayers ‘is also in danger.’
But Judge Wilson restricted the protective order to apply only against Mayer and told Caplan that if a case was subsequently brought against Ephron ‘we can deal with that then’.
Mayers was arrested April 20 at LAX airport as he stepped off a private plane from Barbados where he had been on vacation with then-pregnant Rihanna, 34.
Cops held him for a few hours on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, then released him on $550,000 bail and sent the case to the LA District Attorney to prosecute.
It wasn’t till Monday of this week – August 15 – that LA DA George Gascon decided that the charges were serious enough to press for felony status, rather than misdemeanor which would have meant only a maximum of one year jail time for each count.
‘Discharging a gun in a public place is a serious offense that could have ended with tragic consequences not only for the person targeted but also for innocent bystanders visiting Hollywood,’ said Gascon after announcing the charges.
‘My office conducted a thorough review not the evidence in this case and determined that the addition of a special firearm allegation was warranted.’
