Rakim Athelaston Mayers, also known as A$AP Rocky obtained his stage name from the hip hop group ASAP Mob. He is a famous rapper known to have an aggressive nature and often indulges in committing serious crimes.
According to prosecutors, Rocky pulled a gun on a former friend in Hollywood last year and fired, for which the 33 old native of New York was charged with two felonies on Monday. He faced allegations of personally using a weapon and firing in a public place, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced penalties to the rapper accused of two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
As per the statement below, issued by the Los Angeles police department, this serious offense happened back in November 2021 when the friction led to a heated argument between two former friends.
“On November 6, 2021, around 10:15 p.m., an argument between two acquaintances occurred in the area of Selma Avenue and Argyle Avenue, in the Hollywood Area,” The argument escalated, and resulted in the suspect firing a handgun at the victim. The victim sustained a minor injury from the incident and later sought his medical treatment. Following the shooting, the suspect and two additional males fled the area on foot.”
The rapper will be arraigned on Wednesday, and the LAPD will keep looking into the case and investigate further.
Gascón said in a news release “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.” He continued, “My office conducted a thorough review of the evidence in this case and determined that the addition of a special firearm allegation was warranted.”
Following the serious crime of pulling out a gun and shooting in a public place, he was initially arrested for the incident on April 20 but was immediately released on bail on the same day. He was arrested returning from Barbados after vacation this year. The authorities detained him with his pregnant girlfriend, Rihanna at Los Angeles International Airport.
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It was not the first time when A$AP Rocky has faced his own share of violent charges, some of which were in the recent past. In 2019 also, Mayers was charged in Sweden after a fight on the street between his entourage and two men.
Rocky and two members of his entourage kicked and punched a teenager during a fight in Stockholm. The teenager said in a “Swedish” court that the incident happened outside a hamburger restaurant and he was brutally beaten by Rocky and his two men for which Rocky received a prison sentence. He was ordered to pay more than US$1,000 in damages. Rocky was sent to prison for a month before the final verdict was made by the court.
Rakim Athelaston Mayers described it as horrifying and embarrassing. The Swedish court determined that the attack was not “of such a serious nature” as to warrant keeping him behind the bars for more time.
This is not the first time a rapper is seen getting entangled in criminal offenses. Recently, Nicky Minaj’s husband and childhood friend Kenneth Petty reportedly received a year of house arrest as well as three years of probation as a result of failing to register as a sex offender.
Gun violence has been an extremely serious matter for the US government and its citizens. The most recent of the incidents is the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde which killed 19 students and two teachers. Following the incident, many stars including Harry Styles voluntarily contributed millions to raise awareness about gun control. US citizens, however, are still not satisfied with the government’s measures to protect general public from gun violence.
