LOS ANGELES (AP) – Rihanna appeared for the first time at the trial of her longtime partner A$AP Rocky, on the day of its most important testimony – the description by a former friend of the moment Rocky allegedly fired a gun at him.
The singer superstar, who has two toddler sons with the rapper Rocky, sat out of view of the courtroom’s cameras, between Rocky’s mother and sister, in the downtown Los Angeles criminal courthouse. Security brought her in surreptitiously to avoid crowds on Wednesday morning.
Rocky, whose legal name is Rakim Athelston Mayers, has been standing trial on two felony charges that he fired a handgun at the former friend, who is known by the name A$AP Relli and was born Terell Ephron. If convicted, Rocky could get up to 24 years in prison.
Rihanna watched Wednesday as Relli testified about the moment Rocky allegedly fired a gun at him on a Hollywood street in 2021.
He had been shouting angrily at Rocky, who was walking away after an initial confrontation and scuffle, when Rocky pulled a gun from his waistband and held it in the air, Relli testified.
“He turned around and then it was like BOOM!” he told the jury. “The whole thing was like a movie, he kind of like pointed down and he shot the first shot.”
