Why Did Tory Lanez Shoot Megan Thee Stallion? She Was ‘Tormented & Terrorized’

Why did Tory Lanez shoot Megan Thee Stallion?

Why did Tory Lanez shoot Megan Thee Stallion? There’s no official explanation for why Lanez shot Megan. In her Rolling Stone cover story, she recounted that he started shooting at her while saying “Dance Bitch!” Speaking to Gayle King, she recounted that Lanez apologized and begged for Megan’s silence by offering her and Harris “a million dollars.” Lanez was then arrested for carrying a concealed firearm by LAPD. Megan was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where she insisted that she stepped on glass. She told the music publication she feared law enforcement would respond with deadly force if they found out a Black man was holding a gun. Doctors found bullet fragments in her foot.

“I thought we had a real connection,” she says of Lanez. She believed she and the rapper had bonded over the mutual loss of their mothers; Lanez’s mom died of anemia complications when he was 11. “I thought he knew me. And I never would’ve thought he would’ve shot at me at all.”

“I never put my hands on this man,” she continues. “I never did anything to him. There was an argument. People argue every day. Friends argue every day.”

She talked about her recovery process. “What nobody knows is, I had to get the surgery the same night. I stayed in the hospital in California for maybe four days,” she said. “Then I was in New York for a while. Both of my legs wrapped up. I could not walk. I still have bullet fragments in my feet right now. I was very scared that I was not able to be Megan Thee Stallion no more. And I was fucked up.” She began physical therapy in New York before traveling to Tampa, Florida, where she regained the ability to walk.

She continued, still processing her feelings. “I feel shame, a little bit, because even after he shot me, I still was thinking about everybody else in the car,” she says. “I thought everybody in the car was my friend, [and] the whole time, that’s not how they thought of me. That’s what really hurts.”

Tory Lanez Sentenced to 10 Years

Before his sentencing, Lanez asked Judge David Herriford for leniency. Lanez told the judge that he still cares for the “WAP” rapper “dearly to this day” and that she is his “friend.” His attorneys asked that Lanez be sentenced to probation or three years in prison, acknowledging that, legally, Lanez is presumed ineligible for probation, but said his case is so unusual it should warrant an exception.

“We both lost our mothers. We would sit there and drink, and drink until we got numb,” he said. “As a celebrity I’ve made mistakes but your honor, I’m not standing in front of you as a celebrity but as someone asking for a chance,” Lanez explained to the judge. 

“A common misconception is that I have no remorse, which is not true,” Lanez continued. “Everything I did wrong that night I take full responsibility for. I will do better.”

In December 2022, the jury returned a verdict and found Lanez guilty of assault with a semiautomatic firearm; discharging a firearm with gross negligence, and carrying a loaded unregistered firearm in a vehicle; along with allegations that he personally used a firearm and inflicted great bodily injury. 

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón released a statement on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, “Over the past three years, Mr. Peterson has engaged in a pattern of conduct that was intended to intimidate Ms. Pete. and silence her truths from being heard,” the statement shared. “Women, especially Black women, are afraid to report crimes like assault because they are too often not believed.”

“I commend Megan Pete for her incredible bravery and vulnerability as she underwent months of probing investigation and court appearances where she had to relive her trauma, and the public scrutiny that followed,” the statement continued. “This case highlighted the numerous ways that our society must do better for women.”

Megan Thee Stallion’s Statement

When Lanez was sentenced, Megan was not in attendance but instead submitted a written statement on her behalf.

“He not only shot me, he made a mockery of my trauma. He tried to position himself as a victim and set out to destroy my character and my soul,” Megan’s message read. “He lied to anyone that would listen and paid bloggers to disseminate false information about the case on social media.”

“He released music videos and songs to damage my character and continue his crusade. At first, he tried to deny the shooting ever happened. Then, he attempted to place the blame on my former best friend. In his tantrum of lies, he’s blamed the system, blamed the press and, as of late, he’s using his childhood trauma to shield himself and avoid culpability.”

 Megan publicly spoke out against all the backlash and talked about the trial in multiple instances. “I want him to go to jail,” Megan told Rolling Stone in a cover story in 2022. “I want him to go under the jail.” 

“I think it’s so crazy that people are able to get online or publish anything that is not a 100 percent fact,”.”That really is messing with my life. How are you able to do it and get away with it?” 

“​​I see people saying, ‘Damn, I would’ve shot that b**ch too.’ In some kind of way I became the villain,” she said. “And I don’t know if people don’t take it seriously because I seem strong. I wonder if it’s because of the way I look. Is it because I’m not light enough? Is it that I’m not white enough? Am I not the shape? The height? Because I’m not petite? Do I not seem like I’m worth being treated like a woman?”

Megan added, “I’m trying every day to get through it and be good. I feel so bad because I don’t feel like anybody’s taking me seriously, but I don’t want them to see me cry. I don’t want them to know that I feel like this, because I don’t want them to feel like, ‘Oh, I got you. I’m breaking you.'”

In a personal essay published to Elle, she recounted the trauma she experienced.”I don’t want to call myself a victim. As I reflect on the past three years, I view myself as a survivor, because I have truly survived the unimaginable,” wrote the rapper. “Not only did I survive being shot by someone I trusted and considered a close friend, but I overcame the public humiliation of having my name and reputation dragged through the mud by that individual for the world to see.”

She added of the verdict, “It was more than just vindication for me, it was a victory for every woman who has ever been shamed, dismissed, and blamed for a violent crime committed against them.”

Celebrity Backlash Against Megan Thee Stallion

After Megan Thee Stallion revealed that Lanez shot her, she was openly mocked, bullied, and was met with memes when people did not believe her story.

On the track “Money Over Fallouts,” Lanez denied committing the crime, rapping: “How the f—k you get shot in your foot, don’t hit no bones or tendons? / How the f—k your team is tryna to paint me as some whole menace?”

In “Circo Loco” Drake seemed to reference the shooting incident with the lyrics, “This bitch lie ’bout gettin shots but she still a stallion / She don’t even get the joke but she still smilin’.”

Megan addressed the alleged dissed. “I know I’m very popular but y’all gotta stop attaching weak ass conspiracy theories in bars to my name lol,” she wrote via Twitter at the time.

Lil Yachty denied that the lyric was directed at Megan. “It’s not about Megan, it’s about women lying about their butt shots saying it’s real when it’s fake,” he said via Instagram Live in November 2022. He co-wrote the song and also addressed that Drake was not going to mention it.

The “WAP” rapper, 25, slammed the reports as “lies” and “fake news” on Twitter. “AT THIS POINT IM GETTING ANNOYED,” she began in a series of tweets. “STOP BELIEVING EVERYTHING YOU READ ON THE MF INTERNET. Imagine how I feel waking every day seeing people LIE and turn my trauma into a joke? That whole team figures out ways to create doubt with my story every week and the media eats it up,” she added, referring to rapper Tory Lanez and his team.

The Good News artist went on to address the serious trauma she has endured since details of the shooting came to light. “Trauma is real I’m still traumatized from loosing [sic] my mom dad and one of my grandmothers and on top of that being shot,” she concluded her series of tweets. “I’m not open abt anything on the internet usually bc I like to keep my emotions private but I’m reaching my limit, Im going to keep staying positive.”

After her Saturday Night Live debut which featured a Malcolm X speech and referencing the Tory Lanez shooting incident and the Breonna Taylor case, she took to Twitter to talk about protecting Black women. “We need to protect our Black women and love our Black women, ‘cause at the end of the day, we need our Black women,” Megan said in her tweets.  “We need to protect our Black men and stand up for our Black men, ‘cause at the end of the day, we’re tired of seeing hashtags about Black men.”