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Terell Ephron, better known as A$AP Relli, admitted he deleted text messages in which he instigated a fight with A$AP Rocky hours before the rapper allegedly shot at him.
Rocky's former friend took the witness stand on Thursday, January 30, and faced more questions from the rapper's attorney Jose Tacopina. During the trial, Tacopina showed Ephron text messages from Rocky, in which he wrote "Wya, let's get to it." In the next slide, Tacopina shows Ephron texts that were on Rocky's phone, which revealed messages that the rapper's former friend deleted before he turned his phone over to the police.
"You got all these fake animosity towards me lol beat me up," Ephron reportedly wrote. "n***a i wish u would... Give me a reason n***a... U been a p***y."
At first, Ephron claimed the messages were fake. However, after reviewing them carefully, he later confirmed the texts were his and admitted to deleting them before cops got to his phone. When asked why he did it, Ephron claimed he couldn't remember. The exchange showed that Rocky actually responded to Ephron's challenges despite previous claims that the rapper randomly picked a fight with him. Rocky replied just hours before they met up in Hollywood.
Ephron accused Rocky of intentionally shooting at him after they got into an argument in November 2021. He claimed a bullet grazed his left hand above his knuckles and said the incident was caught on camera. Rocky denied the claims since the day the confrontation happened. He was spotted with what appeared to be a handgun in security footage that was entered into evidence, but it doesn't capture the entire argument. Tacopina argued that his client carried a prop gun that night for security purposes.
A$AP Rocky's girlfriend Rihanna was in the gallery to witness the fourth (and fifth) day of the trial. No photographers have been able to catch the singer while she sat down in the front row with Rocky's family. However, a sketch artist released an image of her seated behind the father of her children. See the images below.