A$AP Rocky was arrested on April 20 at the LAX airport.
The rapper, who just returned from a Caribbean vacay with his pregnant girlfriend, Rihanna, was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department together with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations team after exiting their private jet at the said airport.
According to NBC News, the rapper was detained following a 2021 shooting incident. A$AP, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, had been “under investigation” following an incident that took place in California in November. According to the reports obtained by the outlet, the shooting victim told police that Mayers, who was with two other individuals, “approached him with a handgun on the street,” adding that “Mayers shot at him three to four times and believed one of the bullets grazed his left hand.”
Meanwhile, the said shooting incident wasn’t reported publicly before he was arrested.
The shooting had not been reported publicly before his arrest. However, police gave details regarding the incident through a statement on Twitter stating, “Early this morning, LAPD officers arrested Mayers for assault with a deadly weapon (firearm) at the Los Angeles International Airport. The case will be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for filing consideration.”
Meanwhile, Rihanna, who revealed in January that she was expecting her first child, was with the rapper when the arrest happened. Last month, the 34-year-old rapper told Elle magazine that she was in her third trimester.
This isn’t the first time that A$AP faced legal trouble. In 2019, the rapper was charged with assault causing visible bodily harm while he was in Sweden. He pled not guilty and spent more than a month in prison before his conviction. He was given a suspended prison sentence and didn’t serve time behind bars but was ordered to pay the victim $1,270 for damages.
The judges found that the assault committed by A$AP and two members of his entourage was not “of such a serious nature that a prison stance must be chosen.” The rapper defended that he was acting in self-defense when he got involved in the street fight. He was released from jail in August and returned to the U.S.
