Tory Lanez's Alleged Prison Attacker Reportedly Claims Self-Defense

Santino Casio alleges that he thought Lanez had a weapon.

May 24, 2025
Tory Lanez
(Photo by Greg Doherty/Getty Images)

The prisoner who stabbed Tory Lanez has reportedly claimed that he acted in self-defense.

According to TMZ, the suspect, Santino Casio, revealed on a phone call that he’d heard rumors the singer wanted him harmed. Casio claimed that after hearing these rumors he saw Lanez and believed he saw a potential weapon lump in his pocket.

Because of that, Casio attacked the rapper. However, he claimed that he wasn’t actually trying to kill Lanez, and that he himself received a stab wound in his leg, which makes him believe that the Canadian star did have a weapon after all.

Casio claimed that prior to the attack he had a good relationship with Lanez because they lived in neighboring cells at California Correctional Institution.

Since being stabbed 14 times earlier this month, Tory Lanez has been relocated to a new prison facility in San Luis Obispo County.

Soon after the incident, a non-profit organization called Unite the People claimed that a newly unearthed testimony from a bodyguard that proves Lanez is innocent in the 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion.

The organization's "lead consultant," Walter Roberts, claimed he was approached by a man named Bradley James, who alleged he was Kelsey Harris’ bodyguard, who was friends with Megan and was present at the time of the shooting.

"Mr. James informed us he was working as the bodyguard and driver for Ms. Kelsey Harris during Mr. Peterson's trial," said Roberts during a press conference. "Mr. James informed us he was not under a non-disclosure agreement or a confidentiality agreement and was free to speak with Unite the People and that he was doing it because his conscience would not let him not speak and leave a man in prison for something he did not do."

In response to this, Megan’s lawyer Alex Spiro issued a statement about Lanez’ guilt. "Tory Lanez was tried and convicted by a jury of his peers and his case was properly adjudicated through the court system," Spiro said. "This is not a political matter — this is a case of a violent assault that was resolved in the court of law."