A$AP Rocky watches as accuser testifies rapper shot at him in Hollywood: “Looked like a movie” – CBS News
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By
Marissa Wenzke
Updated on: January 29, 2025 / 6:42 PM PST
/ KCAL News
The man who alleges A$AP Rocky shot at him years earlier on a Hollywood sidewalk continued his testimony Wednesday, telling a downtown Los Angeles courtroom about the night he says the Grammy-nominated rapper opened fire.”So I see Rocky turn around, and when he turned around, he’s like,” said Terell Ephron, as he raised his arm into the air while pointing his fingers downward. “Kinda looked like a movie. The whole thing looked like a movie.”Rocky, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm — his attorneys accusing Ephron of lying and trying to extort the rapper during opening statements when the trial began last week. The defense has also alleged Ephron fabricated evidence, saying Rocky had a prop gun that night which only fires blanks. Meanwhile, Los Angeles prosecutors say the Harlem-born rapper pointed a gun at Ephron before shooting twice in his direction on Nov. 6, 2021.Ephron has said the bullets grazed his hand and left wounds above his knuckles. When he first took the stand Tuesday, he told the court Rocky allegedly told him “I’ll kill you right now” while holding a gun. He alleges Rocky opened fire later that night.Last week, the rapper turned down a plea deal from prosecutors which carried a sentence of 180 days in jail, taking the risk of a possible sentence of up to 24 years in prison if he is found guilty of all charges. On Wednesday, the third day of the trial, inside the courtroom in LA was Rihanna, Rocky’s longtime partner with whom he shares two children, sitting next to his mother and sister, according to Variety. It marked her first appearance at the trial, her attendance coming on a day when the prosecution’s key witness described the moments of the alleged shooting and a tense exchange of text messages hours later.”When he shot the first shot, I felt my hand hot,” Ephron testified, saying he grabbed another person there that night and “used him as a shield” to try dodging the gunfire. “I’m just trying to like not get hit at this point.”He and Rocky were once friends and collaborators, both former members of the hip hop collective A$AP Mob. Ephron previously performed as A$AP Relli and testified that his musical career has suffered an insurmountable blow due to the high-profile case.”I mean, it’s been a living hell,” Ephron told the court, saying artists he managed and others in the music industry cut him off after his identity as the alleged victim became public. “”They all turned on me because of this decision I made.”For a little over two hours, Ephron continued his testimony Wednesday, telling jurors he went back to the scene of the alleged shooting — at the intersection of Selma Avenue and Argyle Avenue, in the heart of Hollywood and just around the corner from the Walk of Fame. He said he collected shell casings that were left behind, a point the defense has targeted as a weakness in the prosecution’s case. Rocky’s defense attorneys have argued that Ephron lied and made up that evidence.”But I ended up going back and getting the actual bullets myself,” Ephron said from the witness stand, saying he went back with his girlfriend around 45 minutes to an hour later, bringing a brown paper bag to collect the evidence and taking photos of casings he allegedly found.”It wasn’t hard for me to find the bullets because I knew exactly where I got shot at,” he said.According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the alleged shooting happened at about 10:15 p.m. on the evening of Nov. 6, 2021. The first of four photos Ephron says he took of two shell casings at the scene, presented by the prosecution during his testimony Wednesday, was time-stamped 11:45 p.m. — about an hour and a half after police say the incident happened.As he continued his testimony, the prosecution laid out a series of messages between him and Rocky later that evening, including a photo of a shell casing which he sent to Rocky’s phone. The time stamp shows it was delivered at 11:58 p.m. Rocky never admitted fault during the series of messages, later accusing Ephron of trying to extort him. “Rell wtf iz u talkin bout ??? Why u tellin ppl I shot at u,” reads one of the messages Rocky sent.Defense attorney Joe Tacopina has told jurors that Ephron “fabricated evidence” when he claimed to have discovered those shell casings, telling the court during opening statements last week that he has lied as part of an “extortion plan.” “You will see that story fall apart so hard. Why? Because the evidence will show you that, well before Relli returned to the area, seven police officers arrived at that same spot,” Tacopina said. “They responded to the scene and carefully searched every inch of that area.”Ephron has maintained his former friend shot at him, testifying Tuesday that the alleged shooting left him “furious” and in disbelief. During his testimony Wednesday, he described how he felt as he walked away from the Hollywood intersection where he says it happened. “I felt betrayed. I felt hurt,” he said. Later in the hearing, the prosecution presented one of the messages Ephron allegedly sent Rocky. “I dead loved your dumb ass,” the text read. It was delivered two and a half hours after police say the shooting happened.Marissa Wenzke is a journalist based in Los Angeles. She has a bachelor’s degree in political science from UC Santa Barbara and is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School.
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