US rapper A$AP Rocky will stand trial for twice pulling a gun on a former friend and shooting at him once, a court in Los Angeles ruled Monday. The 35-year-old, who has two children with R&B star Rihanna, is being prosecuted on two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. He has denied the charges. The court heard how Terell Ephron, one of the founding members of the A$AP collective, was left slightly injured after the confrontation in Hollywood in November 2021.

At a hearing last week, Ephron, known by his stage name A$AP Relli, said the friendship between the two men had soured, accusing him of abandoning other members of the group, which was founded in New York in 2008. While A$AP Rocky—whose real name is Rakim Mayers—had gone on to fame and fortune, other members of the collective have descended into poverty and drug use, he said.

After the death of one member of the group, the two men clashed in an encounter partially caught on surveillance camera. Ephron said Mayers pulled a gun and thrust it towards his stomach, saying “I’ll kill you right now.”

In a later altercation, Ephron said he told his former friend he had “failed everybody” but that nobody was brave enough to tell him. “I just wanted him to hear my side,” Ephron said, adding that Mayers had then shot at him, with the bullet grazing his left hand. Mayers, who is free on bail, was ordered to be arraigned on January 8.—AFP