A$AP Rocky arrives at court where he is set to find out whether he will stand trial for ‘firing gun at friend outside Hollywood hotel’
- Rapper A$AP Rocky arrived at the court wearing a black suit and a floral brooch
- A judge will determine whether he will stand trial for a shooting in November 2021
- He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he fired a gun at an old friend
Rapper A$AP Rocky arrived at a Los Angeles courthouse on Monday, where a judge will determine whether he will stand trial for allegedly shooting a gun at a friend outside a hotel.
A$AP Rocky, real name Rakim Mayers, faces up to eight years in prison if convicted of two felony counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm.
He arrived at court Monday wearing a black suit, matching black face mask, black tie with white polka dots and a floral brooch.
The 35-year-old rap star and father of two with Rihanna has pleaded not guilty to charges that he fired a gun at a former friend and associate.
Prosecutors allege that on November 6, 2021, Mayers pointed a gun at Terell Ephron, once known as A$AP Relli, and was then shot in a confrontation, leaving Ephron with minor injuries.
A$AP Rocky arrived at court on Monday wearing a black suit, matching black face mask, black tie with white polka dots and a floral brooch
A judge will determine if there is enough evidence to move forward with a trial against the rapper in a November 2021 shooting
At an earlier hearing, Ephron testified that Mayers held the gun to his stomach and said, “I’ll kill you now,” before firing bullets and leaving the room.
Ephron said he and the rapper F*****g Problems were teenage friends and members of the A$AP collective, a group of New York high school students who wanted to make music and pursue other art forms.
He said their friendship continued as Mayer’s fame grew, but began to falter when he began to withdraw from business ventures.
Prosecutors played surveillance video showing Mayers brandishing a gun and possibly firing it, which his attorneys denied he did.
The father of Rihanna’s two children was first arrested in April last year as he returned to LAX airport from Barbados, where he had been on holiday with his then-pregnant girlfriend.
He was later released on $550,000 bail. Officers were seen outside his LA home smashing the gate with a battering ram before apparently raiding the property. Detectives seized several boxes of evidence from the home.
Four months after his arrest, the charges were upgraded to misdemeanor status, instead of misdemeanor, which would have meant only one year in prison for each charge.
During this preliminary hearing, a judge will determine if there is enough evidence to move forward with a trial.
The rapper is represented by the same lawyer who represents former President Donald Trump in his criminal case in New York, Joe Tacopina.