The hip-hop world is reeling from a jaw-dropping twist in the Tory Lanez and Megan Thee Stallion shooting case, as newly surfaced audio and claims from a bodyguard point the finger at Megan’s former friend, Kelsey Harris, as the alleged shooter. This explosive development, pushed by Lanez’s legal team, challenges the 2022 conviction that landed the Canadian rapper a 10-year prison sentence for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in July 2020. With witness testimony, body cam footage, and unverified affidavits stirring the pot, the question on everyone’s mind is: who really pulled the trigger that night?
The saga began after a pool party at Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood Hills home on July 12, 2020, when an argument erupted in an SUV carrying Megan Thee Stallion (real name Megan Pete), Tory Lanez (real name Daystar Peterson), Kelsey Harris, and Lanez’s driver, Jaquan Smith. According to court records, Megan was shot in the feet, leading to Lanez’s conviction on three felony charges: assault with a semi-automatic firearm, possession of a concealed, unregistered firearm, and negligent discharge of a firearm. But Lanez’s team, backed by the nonprofit Unite the People, insists new evidence clears him and points to Harris as the shooter.
On May 29, 2025, Lanez’s legal team released audio through their website, 36hourslater.com, featuring a witness, widely believed to be Sean Kelly, a neighbor who saw the incident from his Hollywood Hills balcony. In the audio, Kelly states,
“Um, the gun, and the girl shoots itself… I see what appears to be the girl standing here and shooting into the car… That’s what it looked like to me… But it was dark, and I’m above, so… But, then the guy gets out again from the back.”
This aligns with Kelly’s 2022 trial testimony, where he told jurors,
“I saw a muzzle flash about the same time the smaller gentleman (Lanez, who is 5ft 3in) got out of the car… They were pulling their hair and hitting each other. It was quite violent.”
Kelly also testified,
“I said that they were both shooting,”
but clarified,
“I just saw flashes… from the girl,”
adding that he never saw a gun but believed the initial flash came from a woman, likely Harris, before Lanez fired additional shots.
Kelly’s testimony, reported by Vibe, has been contentious. He described a chaotic scene where Megan and Harris were fighting violently, with Lanez and the driver intervening.
“The larger gentleman stood up and said the police were coming. They picked the girl up, and to me it seemed they were going to throw her into the river,”
Kelly said, describing a nearby concrete channel. He added,
“It appeared to me when I was on the phone that they were trying to kill her.”
Despite his claim of seeing a woman fire first, Kelly’s account also implicated Lanez, stating,
“He was firing everywhere, four or five times,”
which may have bolstered the prosecution’s case.
The most shocking claim comes from Bradley James, Harris’s former bodyguard, who allegedly submitted an affidavit stating he overheard Harris admit to shooting Megan. During a May 14, 2025, press conference hosted by Unite The People, attorney Walter Roberts revealed,
“Not long ago, Unite The People was approached by a gentleman, Bradley James… He informed Unite The People that he was witness to a conversation Ms. Harris had where she stated she had the gun, she fired it [at Megan] three times. Mr. Peterson grabbed her arm and knocked it down, and the gun fired two more times. In essence, Mr. Peterson never shot anybody. Never even touched that gun. He never even fired the gun.”
Roberts emphasized,
“This statement aligns with the statement of the only non-party witness to the case, Mr. Sean Kelly, who at trial testified he saw two women fighting, two men break up the fight, one man grab the other one’s arm, gunshots came from the passenger side.”
This claim, reported by Yahoo, suggests Harris, seated on the passenger side, fired the initial shots, with Lanez intervening to stop her. However, Megan’s legal team disputes this, noting James wasn’t at the scene and his affidavit relies on an overheard conversation, not firsthand observation. They argue it lacks credibility and hasn’t been verified by courts.
All of a sudden a body cam footage released on May 29, 2025, shows Megan speaking to police the night of the incident, saying,
“Ma’am, do you think we gon go to jail?… I really cannot go to jail… I cannot have that on my image… Glass… I didn’t get shot… Oh, man.”
The transcript captures her fear:
“Do you think we’re going to go to jail? (0:03)… I don’t know. We’re trying to figure it all out (0:04)… As long as you guys cooperate with us and you guys tell us what happened, we’ll go accordingly (0:08)… But if you guys are not telling us, then I don’t think… (0:13)… I really cannot go to jail (0:17)… Okay. So how did that happen to you? (0:23)… Glass (0:26)… Is that the only place you got shot at? (0:40)… I didn’t get shot (0:45).”
During the trial, Megan testified she initially lied about stepping on glass to protect Lanez, later admitting she was shot, as noted in court reports.
Forensic evidence remains a sticking point. LAPD criminologist Randy Zepeda testified in 2022 that no DNA from Lanez was found on the gun’s magazine, and tests on the firearm itself were inconclusive. Gunshot residue was found on both Lanez and Harris, but only Lanez’s DNA was tested against the weapon, despite unknown DNA being present. Attorney Walter Roberts questioned this, saying,
“There were three potential suspects in the car that night. And yet the only DNA sample was taken of Mr. Peterson, even though unknown DNA was found on the gun.”
Commentator Gianno Caldwell added,
“According to the prosecution, Tory was excluded from the clip of the gun, and according to Tory’s defense team, they said DNA analysis showed there was a 0.01% chance Tory touched the actual gun itself.”
Kelsey Harris’s role has also raised eyebrows. During the trial, she invoked her Fifth Amendment rights and was granted immunity, prompting questions about why she needed protection if not involved. Caldwell asked,
“She wasn’t accused of anything by Megan or the police. So why plead the fifth? What also shocked me is the prosecution gave her immunity for what?”
In a September 2022 police interview, played for the jury, Harris stated Lanez fired at Megan and assaulted her, saying, “Tory shot Meg,” in a text to Megan’s security. But on the stand, she backtracked, claiming,
“Some things that I stated back in September weren’t accurate,”
citing postpartum depression and personal issues. This inconsistency, reported by Variety, led prosecutors to call it “convenient amnesia.”
Megan Thee Stallion has vehemently rejected these claims. In a May 2025 TikTok post, she declared,
“YOU SHOT ME !! Ain’t no new fucking evidence yall been saying the same shit for years.”
Her attorney, Alex Spiro, told XXL,
“Tory Lanez was tried and convicted by a jury of his peers and his case was properly adjudicated through the court system. This is not a political matter—this is a case of a violent assault that was resolved in the court of law.”
Megan’s team also released a 31-page document in May 2025, asserting the conviction was based on overwhelming evidence, including her testimony that Lanez said, “Dance, b—-,” before shooting, and medical evidence from surgeon Lee Hurano, who confirmed bullet fragments in her feet.
Public and Legal Fallout
The case has sparked a firestorm on social media. X posts reflect the divide, with @MrsPI17 stating,
“Everybody in that car should’ve been tested against the weapon and they were not even after Kelsey was pointed out as the shooter by eyewitness and testing positive for GSR.”
Conversely, @playeration questioned,
“If Kelsey Harris shot Megan and Tory is just an innocent bystander, then why did he offer to pay her millions of dollars?”
Another user, @itsKenBarbie, echoed Megan’s frustration:
“One min him/y’all said I was never shot… now yall letting him play in y’all face AGAIN and saying I was shot but it wasn’t him.”
Lanez’s team has launched a petition on Change.org, garnering over 50,000 signatures, urging California Governor Gavin Newsom to pardon him, citing “prosecutorial misconduct” and “missing forensic data.” The petition, shared on Lanez’s X account, claims,
“No DNA belonging to Lanez was found on the magazine of the firearm. Gunshot residue was detected on both Lanez and Kelsey Harris—yet only Lanez’s DNA was tested.”
The timing of these revelations is notable, coming days after Lanez was stabbed 14 times in prison on May 12, 2025, by inmate Santino Casio, leaving him hospitalized with collapsed lungs. His father, Sonstar Peterson, said at the press conference,
“Despite the attack and wounds, Tory is recovering remarkably.”
Some, like political strategist Diana London, suggest the stabbing was no coincidence, comparing Lanez’s case to the Menendez brothers and alleging a flawed justice system.
As Lanez fights for his freedom, the hip-hop community is left grappling with conflicting accounts. Did Kelsey Harris fire the gun, as the bodyguard and witness audio suggest, or is Lanez’s team spinning a narrative to overturn a just conviction? With forensic gaps, inconsistent testimonies, and unverified claims, the truth remains elusive, keeping this case at the center of one of hip-hop’s most divisive sagas.
