Rapper Tory Lanez attacked in California prison as he serves time for Megan Thee Stallion shooting

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rapper Tory Lanez was hospitalized after an attack Monday at a California prison where he's serving a 10-year sentence for shooting hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion in the feet, authorities said.

Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, was attacked at a housing unit at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, at about 7:20 a.m., Pedro Calderon Michel, spokesman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said in an email.

Michel did not specify how Lanez was attacked, but a message posted on the rapper's Instagram account Monday evening said Lanez was stabbed 14 times and both his lungs collapsed. The post said Lanez is breathing on his own.

“Despite being in pain, he is talking normally, in good spirits, and deeply thankful to God that he is pulling through,” the post said, adding Lanez was stabbed in his back, torso, head and face.

Staff immediately gave Lanez medical aid and called 911, and he was taken to an outside hospital, Michel said. The prison's investigative unit and the Kern County District Attorney's Office are investigating, he said.

The prison is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Los Angeles in the mountains of the Mojave Desert and houses about 1,700 medium- and maximum-security inmates.

In December 2022, Lanez was convicted of three felonies: assaul/t with a semiautomatic firearm; having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.

Megan, whose legal name is Megan Pete, testified during the trial that in July 2020, after they left a party at Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood Hills home, Lanez fired the gun at the back of her feet and shouted for her to dance as she walked away from an SUV in which they had been riding.

She had bullet fragments in both feet that had to be surgically removed. It wasn't until months after the incident that she publicly identified Lanez as the person who had fired the gun.

A judge rejected a motion for a new trial from Lanez’s lawyers, who are appealing his conviction. They did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Megan recently alleged that Lanez was harassing her from prison through surrogates, and in January a judge issued a protective order through 2030 ordering him to stop any such harassment or any other contact.

The 32-year-old Canadian Lanez began releasing mixtapes in 2009 and saw a steady rise in popularity, moving on to major label albums, two of which reached the top 10 on Billboard's charts.

The case created a firestorm in the hip-hop community, churning up issues including the reluctance of Black victims to speak to police, gender politics in hip-hop, online toxicity, and the ramifications of misogynoir, a particular brand of misogyny Black women experience.

The often dramatic trial was packed with friends and family members of Lanez who felt he was a victim of both the justice system and the powerful people around Megan, who his managed by Jay-Z's Roc Nation.

When the verdict was announced, Lanez's father, Sonstar Peterson, jumped up and angrily denounced prosecutors and the system before he was dragged from the chaotic courtroom where many in the audience were shouting similar things. He later apologized to the judge.

Megan Thee Stallion, 30, was already a major rising star at the time of the shooting, and her music’s popularity has soared since. She won a Grammy for best new artist in 2021, and she had No. 1 singles with “Savage,” featuring Beyoncé, and as a guest on Cardi B’s “WAP.”

FILE - Rapper Tory Lanez performs at HOT 97 Summer Jam 2018 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on June 10, 2018. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Singer Tory Lanez returns to the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center for his trial, Dec. 13, 2022, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Richard “Dick” Codey, a former acting governor of New Jersey and the longest serving legislator in the state's history, died Sunday. He was 79.

Codey’s wife, Mary Jo Codey, confirmed her husband’s death to The Associated Press.

“Gov. Richard J. Codey passed away peacefully this morning at home, surrounded by family, after a brief illness,” Codey's family wrote in a Facebook post on Codey's official page.

"Our family has lost a beloved husband, father and grandfather -- and New Jersey lost a remarkable public servant who touched the lives of all who knew him," the family said.

Known for his feisty, regular-guy persona, Codey was a staunch advocate of mental health awareness and care issues. The Democrat also championed legislation to ban smoking from indoor areas and sought more money for stem cell research.

Codey, the son of a northern New Jersey funeral home owner, entered the state Assembly in 1974 and served there until he was elected to the state Senate in 1982. He served as Senate president from 2002 to 2010.

Codey first served as acting governor for a brief time in 2002, after Christine Todd Whitman’s resignation to join President George W. Bush’s administration. He held the post again for 14 months after Gov. Jim McGreevey resigned in 2004.

At that time, New Jersey law mandated that the Senate president assume the governor’s role if a vacancy occurred, and that person would serve until the next election.

Codey routinely drew strong praise from residents in polls, and he gave serious consideration to seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2005. But he ultimately chose not to run when party leaders opted to back wealthy Wall Street executive Jon Corzine, who went on to win the office.

Codey would again become acting governor after Corzine was incapacitated in April 2007 due to serious injuries he suffered in a car accident. He held the post for nearly a month before Corzine resumed his duties.

After leaving the governor’s office, Codey returned to the Senate and also published a memoir that detailed his decades of public service, along with stories about his personal and family life.

“He lived his life with humility, compassion and a deep sense of responsibility to others,” his family wrote. “He made friends as easily with Presidents as he did with strangers in all-night diners.”

Codey and his wife often spoke candidly about her past struggles with postpartum depression, and that led to controversy in early 2005, when a talk radio host jokingly criticized Mary Jo and her mental health on the air.

Codey, who was at the radio station for something else, confronted the host and said he told him that he wished he could “take him outside.” But the host claimed Codey actually threatened to “take him out,” which Codey denied.

His wife told The Associated Press that Codey was willing to support her speaking out about postpartum depression, even if it cost him elected office.

“He was a really, really good guy,” Mary Jo Codey said. “He said, ‘If you want to do it, I don’t care if I get elected again.’”

Jack Brook contributed reporting from New Orleans.

FILE - New Jersey State Sen. and former Democratic Gov. Richard Codey is seen before New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature at the statehouse, in Trenton, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)