The guy A$AP Rocky is accused of shooting at on a Hollywood sidewalk years ago testified on the second day of his assault trial, telling jurors that he was “furious” when the rapper reportedly drew a gun on him.
From the defense table, Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, observed his old pal testify that on Nov. 6, 2025, the Grammy-nominated musician had taken a revolver from his waistband and aimed it at him. Prosecutors say it was the first of two encounters between Rocky and the victim, Terell Ephron, who was formerly Rocky’s buddy and partner.
In the second alleged incident, Rocky is said to have opened fire and fired twice toward Ephron.
Since his arrest in April 2023, the rapper and actor, who was born in Harlem and has been Rihanna’s longtime lover with whom he has two children, has entered a not guilty plea to two charges of assault with a semiautomatic pistol. He rejected a plea agreement from prosecutors last week that would have entailed two months in prison and has insisted on his innocence in statements made by his lawyers.
He faces a maximum sentence of 24 years in jail if found guilty of all charges.
Ephron was once known as A$AP Relli and, like Rocky, was a member of the hip-hop group A$AP Mob. Opening statements for the assault trial took place on Friday. The prosecution focused a large portion of its argument on video evidence, while the defense presented Ephron as the rapper’s former buddy who had turned on him by lying in earlier testimony and attempting to start a “extortion plan.”
The Associated Press’s livestream of the trial, which is being broadcast live after the court gave permission, claims that on Tuesday, Ephron told jurors that Rocky said, “I’ll kill you right now,” while pointing the gun at him, saying it was aimed “like towards my stomach, like towards like my head and shoulder.”
“Yes, it is moving,” Ephron said in response to the prosecution’s question about whether the gun was moving. He had it up.
If there hadn’t been another person present at the moment, Ephron claimed, “I don’t know what would’ve happened.” “He was looking for a spot to shoot me,” she alleged.
“Like mentally, I couldn’t believe he just pulled a gun out on me,” Ephron claimed, asserting that he was “furious.”
Prosecutors claim that following another altercation later that day, Rocky fired twice toward Ephron. Ephron testified last year that during the second occurrence, bullets slightly scraped his knuckles. A$AP Rocky’s lawyers, meanwhile, contend that the rapper was carrying a replica gun that only discharged blanks, which he kept for security and show, and that the purported victim is lying.
Joe Tacopina, the defense lawyer, told jurors during opening statements last week that Ephron had “fabricated evidence.”
Tacopina said, “What you’ll learn is that Relli returned to that scene an hour later,” referring to the Hollywood street where the prosecution claims Rocky fired. “And he attempted to fabricated evidence… This is some offensive stuff.”
Ephron returned to the area with his girlfriend, Tacopina said, and claimed to have discovered two shell casings there, recording them on camera.
“That story will come crashing down. Why? Because the evidence will demonstrate that seven police officers showed up at the same location long before Relli returned,” Tacopina added. “They responded to the scene and carefully searched every inch of that area.”
Ephron was scheduled to testify on the third day of the trial at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, but he had not yet started speaking about the second alleged event on Tuesday.