ASAP Rocky charged with felony assault with a firearm in November shooting in Hollywood

The Los Angeles district attorney on Monday charged rapper ASAP Rocky with assault with a firearm in connection with a shooting in November in Hollywood.

Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, faces two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm with allegations of personally using a firearm. He is slated to be arraigned Wednesday in a downtown L.A. courtroom.

“Discharging a gun in a public place is a serious offense that could have ended with tragic consequences not only for the person targeted but also for innocent bystanders visiting Hollywood,” said Dist. Atty. George Gascón in announcing the charges. “My office conducted a thorough review of the evidence in this case and determined that the addition of a special firearm allegation was warranted.”

Mayers could not immediately be reached for comment.

Prosecutors allege that the rapper pointed a semiautomatic handgun at the victim. In a subsequent confrontation between the two parties, he allegedly drew the semiautomatic handgun and fired twice in the direction of the victim, according to prosecutors. The victim sustained a minor injury.

Terell Ephron, a onetime associate of Mayers known as ASAP Relli, identified himself as the victim and sued Mayers last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleging assault and battery, negligence and emotional distress. Ephron was formerly part of the ASAP Mob hip-hop collective, formed in 2006 in Harlem in New York City.

The lawsuit alleges that Ephron and Mayers agreed to meet to resolve their differences, but after a verbal altercation, Mayers "pulled out a handgun and purposefully pointed it in the direction of [Ephron] and fired multiple shots." Ephron was "struck by bullet projectile/fragments" and required medical attention, according to the lawsuit, which said a large portion of the incident was captured on video.

Los Angeles police found multiple firearms at Mayers' home while serving a search warrant following his arrest in connection with the shooting.

Mayers was arrested April 20 after stepping off a private jet at Los Angeles International Airport on his way back from Barbados, authorities said. He had been vacationing on the Caribbean island with singer Rihanna, who recently gave birth to their first child.

Mayers was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the Nov. 6 incident.

He is free on $550,000 bail.

The 33-year-old rapper, along with two members of his entourage, was previously convicted of aggravated assault in Sweden, when he was there for a festival performance in the summer of 2019. He was convicted after a trial in which a judge heard evidence about a street brawl in Stockholm in which the rapper was accused of stomping on a man after throwing him to the ground.

Mayers testified and maintained that he was acting in self-defense. A judge determined that the incident was not worthy of prison time.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.