In a courtroom in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, the man who claims that A$AP Rocky shot at him on a Hollywood sidewalk years ago continued to testify about the night he claims the Grammy-nominated rapper opened fire.
“So I see Rocky turn around, and when he turned around, he’s like,” Terell Ephron remarked, lifting his arm into the air and pointing downward with his fingers. “Kinda appeared to be a film. It everything had the appearance of a film.
During the trial’s opening comments last week, Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, entered a not guilty plea to two charges of assault with a semiautomatic pistol. His lawyers accused Ephron of lying and attempting to coerce the rapper. Ephron has also been accused by the defense of fabricating evidence, claiming that Rocky possessed a prop gun that night that only fired blanks. Prosecutors in Los Angeles claim that on November 6, 2021, the rapper, who was born in Harlem, aimed a gun at Ephron and then fired twice in his direction.
According to Ephron, the bullets caused wounds above his knuckles and grazed his hand. He told the court that Rocky allegedly told him, “I’ll kill you right now,” while brandishing a gun, when he initially took the stand on Tuesday. He claims that later that evening, Rocky started shooting.
The rapper rejected a plea agreement from prosecutors last week that included a 180-day jail sentence, putting him at risk of receiving a 24-year sentence in state prison should he be proven guilty of all charges.
Variety reports that Rihanna sat in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday, the third day of the trial, next to Rocky’s mother and sister. On a day when the prosecution’s main witness proceeded to testify, detailing the events of the alleged gunshot and a heated text message conversation later that evening, she made her first appearance at the trial.
Ephron testified that he grabbed another person there that night and “used him as a shield” in an attempt to avoid the shooting. “When he shot the first shot, I felt my hand hot,” he said. “I’m just trying to like not get hit at this point.”
He and Rocky were both previous members of the hip-hop group A$AP Mob and were formerly pals and collaborators. Ephron, who was formerly known as A$AP Relli, stated in court that the well-publicized case has dealt an irreparable injury to his musical career.
Ephron told the court, “I mean it’s been a living hell,” claiming that when his name as the accused victim was made public, he was cut off by musicians he managed and other members of the music industry. “This decision I made caused them all to turn against me.”
Ephron continued his evidence Wednesday for just over two hours, telling jurors that he returned to the location of the alleged shooting, which took place in the center of Hollywood, just a short distance from the Walk of Fame, at the junction of Selma Avenue and Argyle Avenue. He claimed to have gathered shell casings that had been abandoned, which the defense has pointed out as a flaw in the prosecution’s argument. According to Rocky’s defense lawyers, Ephron fabricated the proof and lied.
“But I ended up going back and getting the actual bullets myself,” Ephron stated on the witness stand. He and his girlfriend returned approximately 45 to an hour later, carrying a brown paper bag to gather the evidence and taking pictures of the shells he reportedly discovered.
“It wasn’t hard for me to find the bullets because I knew exactly where I got shot at,” he stated.
The Los Angeles Police Department reports that the alleged incident occurred on the evening of November 6, 2021, at approximately 10:15 p.m. Time-stamped at 11:45 p.m., approximately an hour and a half after police claim the event occurred, the first of four pictures Ephron claims he took of two shell casings at the scene was shown by the prosecution during his testimony on Wednesday.
Later that evening, as he proceeded to testify, the prosecution revealed a slew of communications he had with Rocky, including a purported picture of a shell casing that he sent to Rocky’s phone. According to the time stamp, the delivery occurred at 11:58 p.m. Ephron accused Rocky of firing, and Rocky later accused Ephron of attempting to extort him, but Rocky never took responsibility for the sequence of communications. “Really, what are you talking about? One of the purported messages from Rocky says, “Why are you telling people that I shot at you?”
During opening arguments last week, defense lawyer Joe Tacopina informed jurors that Ephron “fabricated evidence” when he claimed to have found the shell casings, claiming that his deception was part of a “extortion plan.”
“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 has insisted that he was shot by a former friend and coworker, saying in his testimony on Tuesday that the shooting left him “furious” and incredulous. He talked about his feelings as he left the Hollywood crossroads where he claims it occurred during his testimony on Wednesday. “I felt deceived. “I was offended,” he said.
The prosecution showed one of the alleged communications that Ephron sent to Rocky later in the trial. The text said, “I dead loved your dumb ass,” It was delivered roughly two and a half hours after the rapper allegedly started shooting, according to the police.