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Tory Lanez’s Star Witness Says He Saw Rapper 'Firing Everywhere' In Megan Thee Stallion Shooting
The 911 caller, a man named Sean Kelly, didn't recognize the rappers and did think Kelsey Harris fired first but feared for Megan Thee Stallion's life.
A man who saw the shooting of Megan Thee Stallion and was touted as the exonerating witness for accused shooter Tory Lanez's defense turned out to be anything but on Tuesday.
Sean Kelly is a Hollywood Hills resident who lived near the shooting and called 911 to report the altercation that ensued after a car carrying Megan Thee Stallion, her friend/assistant Kelsey Harris and Tory Lanez stopped near his home around 4:25 a.m. on July 12, 2020. Lanez's defense indicated in their opening statements that Kelly would testify that he saw Harris, not Lanez, shoot at Megan Thee Stallion.
Megan Thee Stallion previously testified that Lanez — who is charged with assault with a semi-automatic firearm, discharging a firearm with gross negligence and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle, to which he's pleaded not guilty — shot at her. Harris testified that she did not fire any weapon that night, though she was ambiguous under oath as to whether she saw Lanez do so. (In a separate interview with prosecutors from September, shown to the jury, she unequivocally said that Lanez had done so, according to Law & Crime.)
RELATED: Megan Thee Stallion's Ex-Friend Testifies She Didn't See Who Shot Megan But It Wasn't Her
While on the stand, Kelly testified that, while he saw Megan Thee Stallion and Harris fighting outside the vehicle when he called 911, he only saw a muzzle flash near Harris "about the same time that the smallest individual got out of the car" and begin firing, according to Law & Crime.
Lanez is 5'3", while Megan Thee Stallion is 5'10". Harris is reportedly also taller than Lanez, especially in heels. Only one gun was found in the car after the incident.
“I want to be clear, I never saw a gun, OK, I just saw flashes,” Kelly testified, according to Rolling Stone, claiming he thought the first flash had come from near Harris, though he first thought it might be fireworks, and that Lanez then exited the vehicle.
"I just saw he was very angry, shouting, and then the flashes then came from him," Kelly added. "He was firing everywhere."
He said Lanez fired 4-5 shots and called Lanez's utterances "a torrent of abuse," according to Rolling Stone, including "the n-word" and "m-fer," according to Law & Crime. Kelly did not, however, recall hearing Lanez say, "Dance, b*tch" as he fired, which is what Megan Thee Stallion testified Lanez had said.
Kelly testified that the victim — Megan Thee Stallion — fell to the ground after the "short gentleman" fired in her direction.
“She crawled and stumbled across the road into my neighbor’s driveway, which is a small bridge, and she curled up in ball,” he testified, according to Rolling Stone. By this point, he said, the larger man — Lanez's bodyguard/driver, Jauquan Smith — had also gotten out of the car.
In Kelly's recollection, Harris, Smith and Lanez followed Megan Thee Stallion after she crawled away, with Lanez and Smith kicking and punching Megan Thee Stallion.
"She was in a fetal position. She was all curled up on the floor and they were punching and kicking her. They were all beating her," he testified, according to the magazine.
“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," he said. He explained that the "river" was a concrete channel about 15 feet deep that his neighbor's driveway bridge spanned.
"They dragged her across the street, then got in the car and sped off," he said.
Kelly was worried the three were going to kill the woman.
He also testified that Lanez had hit Harris during the altercation — a detail Harris said she couldn't recall during her testimony but which she told prosecutors about in depth during her September statement played for the jury.
Kelly's testimony seemingly undermined the defense's ongoing contention that Harris, not Lanez, was the shooter in the incident. The bodyguard/driver Smith is not under suspicion — he was the only one, according to earlier testimony, with no gunshot residue on his hands.
The defense rested on Wednesday morning. They had previously suggested they might call other witnesses to the stand from Kylie Jenner's party — including either Jenner or her mother's fiancé Corey Gamble — to testify that Megan Thee Stallion was drunk and aggressive towards Lanez before they left, and his driver, Smith, was on the witness list for today, according to Los Angeles Times reporter James Queally, but opted to wrap up the trial before the Christmas holiday.
Lanez also told the judge on Wednesday morning that he would not testify in the case, according to Law & Crime reporter Meghann Cuniff.
In discussions with the judge on Tuesday, prosecutors had been told that, if he testified, they would be able to cross examine Lanez about any song lyrics, music videos or social media posts pertaining to the case, according to Law & Crime.
Prosecutors had also said they would want to cross examine about other assaults Lanez has allegedly committed, including one he allegedly committed against August Alsina in Chicago in August, and two alleged assaults he committed against "Love & Hip Hop: Miami" star Prince Michael Harty in 2019 and 2021. The judge had not ruled that they could do so, but suggested Lanez's testimony could open that door.
Lanez might also have faced cross examination about his 2017 arrest in Broward County, Florida, after which he entered a diversion program for possession of marijuana and driving without a license. At the time of his arrest, Lanez was also found to be driving with a loaded gun in the center console for which he did not have a concealed carry permit, NBC Miami reported. According to court records reviewed by Oxygen.com, Lanez never completed the requirements of the program, though it should have ended in 2017, and could technically still be subject to prosecution in that case.
Harris and Megan Thee Stallion both told prosecutors that Lanez offered them each $1 million dollars to say he wasn't the shooter, allegedly because he was on probation. His defense has repeatedly countered that Lanez was not on probation at the time of the shooting.
Prosecutors had also said they wanted to question Lanez about "talk where he lies about how tall he is," according to Rolling Stone senior reporter Nancy Dillon.
