Details of the still-unexplained incident on July 12 in which rapper Tory Lanez allegedly shot Megan Thee Stallion in the foot have unspooled gradually over the past few weeks. While initial reports of the incident — in which Lanez was arrested for possessing a concealed weapon and released on $35,000 bail — said that Megan had cut her foot on broken glass, although she later claimed in a series of social media posts that she had been shot, and eventually identified Lanez as the shooter.
On Thursday night, Lanez, who had been quiet about the incident since it took place, refuted her allegations with a 17-track album filled with defensive and self-pitying lyrics, many of which address the incident. “How the f— you get shot in your foot, don’t hit no bones or tendons?,” he raps in one of many lyrics about the incident.
Megan, who has taken her time with her responses regarding the incident, apparently responded on Sunday afternoon with a short but unsubtle Instagram post: A photo of herself wearing rings that spell out the words “F— you,” with the caption “Mood.”
While there’s no explicit connection, Lanez’s album, and his vocal supporters, are certainly the most obvious things that she might be referring to.
The backstory of the incident has unspooled gradually over the past few weeks. In the early hours of July 12, Lanez was arrested in Hollywood for possessing a concealed weapon; Megan (real name: Megan Pete) and two other people were in the vehicle with him at the time of the arrest, although the shooting took place beforehand.
Lanez, 28, a Canadian citizen whose real name is Daystar Peterson, has kept a low profile since his arrest.
While the incident was reported in the press just hours after it took place, details have been slow to unfold. Most of them have been provided by Megan herself, culminating in her accusing Lanez of being the gunman after weeks of increasingly damning hints.
“Yes, this n—a Tory shot me,” she said in a fiery video posted to Instagram on Aug. 20. “You shot me, and you got your publicist and your people to [talk to] these blogs, lying and s––. Stop lying!” Various individuals claimed on social media that Megan had physically abused Lanez or faked the shooting.
Megan, Lanez, his bodyguard, and an unidentified woman who is speculated to be Megan’s close friend Kelsey Nicole had attended a party at Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood home earlier in the evening. The four were pulled over by police after a report of gunfire outside a second residence; a witness described the car they were traveling in. While initial reports said Megan had cut her feet on broken glass inside the car, she later claimed to be the “victim of a shooting,” but without identifying the gunman, who was widely suspected to be Lanez.
Megan, 25, then posted photos of her injured foot on Instagram but deleted them a few hours later. More posts discussing the incident ensued; then on Aug. 20 she tweeted, “Lie one more time and ima quit sparing you” — her claim that Lanez was the shooter followed shortly afterward.
Surveillance footage of the arrest shows Lanez, the unidentified woman, and later Megan lying spread-eagled on the ground near the vehicle, surrounded by multiple police cars with a helicopter hovering overhead.
Lanez was released a few hours after his arrest on a $35,000 bond, according to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. He is due in court on Oct. 13.
A representative for the LAPD told Variety that there has been no update in the investigation into the incident, which began in July based on Megan’s initial claims in her Instagram post. “On July 24, our office asked law enforcement for further investigation before making a filing decision on a charge of felony assault with a semiautomatic firearm – personal use of a firearm,” against [Lanez],” reads a statement from the district attorney’s office.
In a cover interview with Variety nine days after the shooting, Megan declined to discuss details but did say:, “I’m not the type of person who can stay down for a long time. I don’t like to be sad or keep myself in a dark place, because I know it could be the worst thing happening, but the pain and the bad things don’t last for long.” That sentiment is reflected in Wednesday’s comment, “Why are y’all so upset that I don’t wanna be in the bed sad?”
The incident has done nothing to slow her fast-rising career. She and Cardi B released the smash single “WAP” in August, and she is the musical guest on the season premiere of “Saturday Night Live” on Oct. 3.