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Was A$AP Rocky’s Gun a Starter Pistol? What His Defense Argued—and What the Verdict Means

A$AP Rocky was acquitted of two felony assault charges in 2025. His defense argued the alleged gun was a prop, but the verdict did not disclose the jury’s reasoning.
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A$AP Rocky’s defense argued that the object at the center of his 2025 Los Angeles trial was a prop pistol, described by one witness as “like a starter pistol.” The jury acquitted him of both felony assault charges, but its verdict did not say whether jurors accepted that account, believed he acted in self-defense, or found the prosecution had not proved the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

What was the case about?

The charges arose from a November 6, 2021 confrontation in Hollywood between rapper Rakim Athelaston Mayers, known as A$AP Rocky, and Terell Ephron, known as A$AP Relli. Ephron said Mayers shot at him and grazed his knuckles. Prosecutors charged Mayers with two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. Court TV’s case coverage reports that a Los Angeles jury found Mayers not guilty of both counts on February 18, 2025, after about three hours of deliberation. The jury was reported as seven women and five men.

What did the defense say about the gun?

The starter-pistol description came from the defense’s account, not from a finding in the verdict. Defense witness A$AP Twelvyy testified that Mayers carried a prop, “like a starter pistol,” and said he had seen it on several occasions. He testified that he saw it at a New York music-video shoot in July 2021, a Harlem block party in September 2021, and in Los Angeles shortly before the November confrontation. The Associated Press reported Twelvyy’s testimony.

Twelvyy also said the claimed pistol was loud enough to make someone think a real gun had been fired and move away. That was his explanation for how it could serve as a deterrent; it does not independently establish what the object was or what happened during the confrontation.

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How did the prosecution’s account differ?

The accounts differed over the object itself. Twelvyy described a prop or starter pistol, while the lead detective testified that he believed a real gun had been fired. The two sides also disputed the significance of the object’s absence: authorities did not recover the pistol they alleged Mayers used, and the defense said it no longer had its claimed prop pistol. The prosecution challenged why that alleged prop had not been preserved as evidence, according to the Los Angeles Times’ report on closing arguments.

Those details describe competing testimony and arguments, not a definitive account of the gun. The available news coverage does not establish that the jury resolved the dispute in favor of either side.

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What does the acquittal establish?

The verdict establishes that the jury found Mayers not guilty of both felony assault counts. It does not disclose why. As the Associated Press’ verdict explainer published by NY1 noted, jurors could have accepted the defense’s prop-gun account, concluded Mayers acted in self-defense, or found that prosecutors had not proved the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The general verdict does not identify which, if any, of those explanations was decisive.

After the verdict, Mayers told jurors, “Thank y’all for saving my life,” as reported in ABC News Australia’s coverage. That remark was his reaction to the acquittal, not a statement of the jury’s reasoning.

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What the record does—and does not—say

  • Established by the verdict: Mayers was acquitted of both felony assault charges on February 18, 2025.
  • Attributed to defense testimony: Twelvyy said the object was a prop “like a starter pistol”; another defense witness, tour manager Lou Levin, characterized it as a nonlethal means of self-defense.
  • Disputed at trial: The lead detective believed a real gun had been fired, and prosecutors questioned why the alleged prop was not preserved.
  • Not established by the general verdict: Whether the object was a prop, whether Mayers acted in self-defense, or which argument or evidentiary issue led jurors to acquit.

News reports of the trial do not provide the jury’s actual reasoning. The careful answer to whether A$AP Rocky’s gun was a starter pistol is therefore that his defense said it was, but the acquittal did not determine or disclose that fact.

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