A$AP Rocky pleads not guilty to assault charges in alleged shooting incident

American rapper Rakim Athelaston Mayers, better known as A$AP Rocky, has pleaded not guilty to assault charges in a Los Angeles court. Rocky has been accused of attacking a former friend with a deadly weapon in Hollywood. He has been charged with two counts of using a semiautomatic rifle to assault Terell Ephron, reported the Rolling Stone. Also known as A$AP Relli, Ephron is a former member of the A$AP Mob, a hip hop collective.

A$AP Rocky was arrested on April 20, 2022 by the Los Angeles Police Department officers who nabbed him at the Los Angeles International Airport when he was returning froma vacation with his partner and singer, Rihanna. He was charged with potential assault with a deadly weapon in the Hollywood shooting that occurred on November 6, 2021.

A$AP Rocky paid a bail of $550,000 and was released. The judge has said that A$AP Rocky will not be able to possess firearms or ammunition and also prohibited him from coming within 100 yards of Ephron.

A$AP Relli's lawsuit against Rocky says that the latter initiated "a verbal altercation".

"During this altercation and while in close physical proximity to the plaintiff, the defendant pulled out a handgun and purposefully pointed it in the direction of the plaintiff and fired multiple shots," continues the lawsuit.

This is not the first assault allegation against A$AP Rocky. In 2019, he was arrested for aggravated and then simple assault in Stockholm, Sweden. He had a street confrontation with a man called Mustafa Jafari. Jafari was beaten by Rocky and his associates.

A$AP Rocky was ultimately convicted of assault and served a month in jail. He was also asked to pay $1,270 in damages.