A$AP Rocky Trial: Lawyer Says Rapper Fired ‘Two Warning Shots’ from Starter Pistol to Protect Pal
A$AP Rocky sat in a California courtroom with everything on the line Friday as prosecutors told jurors he fired multiple shots from a 9mm semiautomatic pistol during a fight with former friend A$AP Relli on a Hollywood street corner three years ago. Rocky’s lawyer said the rapper didn’t shoot anyone, calling Relli’s allegation a lie concocted for cash.
In a dramatic rebuttal to prosecutors’ opening statement on the first day of Rocky’s gun assault trial, defense attorney Joseph Tacopina said publicly for the first time that Rocky, born Rakim Mayers, admits he pulled the trigger on the firearm he was carrying that night. He said Mayers fired “two warning shots” from his “starter gun” to break up an alleged scuffle between Relli and A$AP Illz, another member of their A$AP Mob collective whose legal name is Illijah Ulanger. He said Relli had “attacked” Ulanger.
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“Rocky fired that prop gun, that starter gun, that makes a sound just like a real gun,” Tacopina told the jury. “He fired it twice, hoping the sound would be enough to scare off Relli and protect Illz.”
The defense lawyer said the evidence will show lots of people in Mayers’ inner circle knew he carried a “fake gun” for safety, to “scare off potential attackers” after he was the victim of prior violence and a stalker. Tacopina said the specific gun in Rocky’s hands that night was a starter pistol “prop gun” that came from the set of a music video he filmed in July 2021 with his superstar girlfriend Rihanna, the mother of his two young sons.
“This case is about one mans’ jealousy, lies and greed,” Tacopina said, calling Relli the “source of all the evidence” in the case. “Ladies and gentleman, this case is all about money. The evidence will show you it’s nothing more than a money grab,” Tacopina said. “The evidence will make clear Relli is trying to leverage a fabricated story to extract money from Rocky.”
In the state’s opening statement, prosecutors presented some of their own evidence for the first time. They introduced a 911 call in which a woman said she witnessed the “shooting” and showed a photo of a loaded 9mm gun magazine allegedly recovered from Rocky’s home during a search.
“This is not a complicated case,” Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec told the jury in downtown Los Angeles. He asked the panel of seven women and five men “to not leave your common sense at the door.”
Rocky, 36, is on trial for allegedly shooting Relli, born Terell Ephron, amid a caught-on-camera quarrel not far from the famed intersection of Hollywood and Vine on Nov. 6, 2021. It was during a hearing on Tuesday that Tacopina first claimed in open court that the gun was a starter pistol incapable of firing actual bullets.
Much of Przelomiec’s opening statement covered the video evidence presented during a probable cause hearing in November 2023. He unveiled the 911 call to set the scene and connect Mayers to the alleged shooting by physical description. “There’s been a shooting,” the female caller, who identified herself as a nearby resident, says in the audio played in court. “We watched it. … The guy in the black sweatshirt pulled out a gun.” Przelomiec said the woman later declined to speak with police.
Przelomiec showed grainy video of the alleged incident in which four tiny figures are seen sparring at the intersection of Selma Ave. and Vista Del Mar Ave. after an initial confrontation near a parking garage outside the W Hotel. The blurry black and white video shows no muzzle flash and had no sound when it was recorded. Unlike when it was played at a preliminary hearing in 2023, the video played in court Friday was synchronized with the sound of two loud cracking noises that was captured as the audio to a surveillance video recorded by a building around the corner. Przelomiec told jurors they were able to marry the two videos thanks to a security floodlight that activated at one point during the incident.
Przelomiec said the magazine seized in the case was found in a box in Mayers’ bedroom closet during a search on April 20, 2022. He said the magazine was loaded with six 9mm Luger bullets but that there was no semiautomatic handgun “to go with it.” He said the expended casings allegedly recovered from the scene by Ephron were 9mm casings.
In his dueling presentation, Tacopina said seven police officers responded to the scene of the alleged shooting and never found any casings. He said surveillance video of Ephron back at the scene an hour later showed him scouring the “exact same spot” police had just searched with their flashlights. The lawyer also told jurors the brand of bullets in the magazine at Mayers’ house did not match the casings handed over by Ephron. He said a witness is expected to further testify that the magazine belonged to someone other than Mayers.
Mayers’ trial on two counts of assault with a semiautomatic weapon comes at a pivotal time in his life and career. He and Rihanna, described in court as his “life partner,” welcomed their first son, RZA, in May 2022, and their second son, Riot, a year later. Mayers is set to headline the Los Angeles Rolling Loud California festival set for March, and he was tapped to serve as co-chair of the next Met Gala alongside Pharrell Williams and LeBron James in May. Music fans are awaiting the imminent release of his fourth studio album, Don’t Be Dumb. Mayers is due to make his acting debut as one of the main characters in Spike Lee’s upcoming “reinterpretation” of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 kidnapping drama High and Low. The new film, titled Highest 2 Lowest, was shot last year in New York with co-stars Denzel Washington and fellow rapper Ice Spice.
With so much at stake, it was a telling moment Tuesday when Mayers rejected a last-minute plea deal from prosecutors offering six months in county jail, a 7-year suspended prison sentence and three years of supervised probation. “I respectfully decline, thank you,” Mayers told the court. If convicted as charged, Mayers is facing a maximum sentence of 24 years in prison, though prosecutors said they would recommend between 10 and 12 years. Tacopina has repeatedly said he considers the defense position “strong.” Mayers has been walking in and out of court this week with a distinct air of confidence.
Mayers was first arrested over the case in April 2022. Back then, the incident was described by police as an argument between acquaintances that escalated into gunfire. Rolling Stone was the first to identify the alleged victim after learning Ephron had filed a civil complaint.
At Mayers’ probable cause hearing in November 2023, Ephron testified that he and Mayers were fighting because he believed Mayers had failed to pay for a friend’s funeral. He recalled sending an embittered text on Oct. 28, 2021, because he believed Mayers had become “big-headed.” “You so fucking fake it’s sad,” the text shown on a screen in court read. “Don’t ever forget who introduced you to this life,” Ephron wrote in another text. He told the court he was the one who brought Mayers into the A$AP fold when they were high school students in New York. (Under cross-examination, Ephron said he eventually learned Mayers paid for the entire funeral.)
Describing the night of the alleged assault, Ephron testified that he was staying at a hotel when Mayers suggested they meet face to face. He claimed the meeting turned into an armed ambush, with Mayers brandishing a gun while flanked by Ulanger as well as Jamel Da’Shawn Phillips, also known as A$AP Twelvyy. In his testimony, he said the argument continued down the block. He claimed he taunted Mayers before the rapper allegedly turned around and fired an initial shot that “grazed” the knuckles on his left hand. He claimed he rushed to grab Ulanger to use him “as a shield.” He said Mayers fired two or three more times before everyone fled the scene.
LAPD detective Frank Flores testified at the 2023 hearing that no weapons were ever recovered in the case. He also conceded the video was inconclusive. “[There’s] nothing clear that shows it,” meaning the purported gunfire, he said. The detective claimed that “collectively,” the videos tell a plausible story, but Tacopina pushed back. “I’m not asking for opinion,” Tacopina interrupted, asking again if the video showed a shooting. “Nothing definitively shows,” the detective answered.
Tacopina, an aggressive defense lawyer known for representing high-profile clients including Meek Mill, YG, and Donald Trump, has deflected repeated questions about whether Rihanna would attend the trial. “I know Rocky is very protective of Rihanna and doesn’t want her anywhere near this proceeding. But that’s a family decision they’ll make,” he said Jan. 15.
On Tuesday, Tacopina told Judge Mark Arnold that the “Umbrella” singer likely would make a cameo. “I anticipate at some point, but certainly not every day, and certainly not now,” Tacopina said.
At multiple hearings leading up to trial, Judge Arnold inquired about Rihanna. But he also stated Mayers’ celebrity standing would have no bearing on his oversight of the trial. “You’re not going to get any special treatment. Your status as an entertainer, your status as the significant other of Rihanna, that’s not going to inure to your benefit, and it’s not going to inure to your harm,” he told the artist.
“You are aware that if convicted, you will go into custody and it’s very likely you will get a significant prison sentence?” the judge asked Tuesday.
“Yes, your honor,” Mayers said, “I’m well aware.”
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