Rapper Lil Tjay was shot many times; a suspect was apprehended
The man who is accused of shooting Bronx musician Lil Tjay on Wednesday in New Jersey has been apprehended and is facing serious charges.
New Jersey law enforcement has reportedly arrested a man on many accusations, including attempted murder, armed robbery, and firearms offences.
According to a news release from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, the shooting happened after 27-year-old suspect Mohamed Konate attempted to rob the “Goin’ Up” rapper and two other males.
Multiple 911 calls were made to the Edgewater Police Department just after midnight on Wednesday, alleging that bullets had been fired at 14 Promenade, an Edgewater shopping centre that is home to a Chipotle.
They located Lil Tjay, 21, with numerous gunshot wounds, and Antoine Boyd, 22, with a single gunshot wound, according to the responding officers. Along with Boyd, authorities say 24-year-old Jeffrey Valdez was there and was also armed illegally.
New York Post and TMZ indicate that both Lil Tjay (real name: Tione Merritt) and Boyd were taken to a local hospital for treatment, with Tjay undergoing emergency surgery on Wednesday.
The statement did not include any information about the victims’ conditions, but a follow-up tweet from BCPO on Wednesday said one victim, presumably Lil Tjay, had been “upgraded from critical to stable condition” and the other had been “admitted to hospital with non-life threatening injuries” and is “in good condition.”
This “does not appear to be [a] random act,” the tweet said.
According to a statement released by the BCPO on Wednesday, investigators from that agency and the NYPD apprehended Konate in the evening and he is currently being held for extradition to New Jersey.
According to the statement, Konate has been charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of armed first-degree robbery, two counts of unlawful second-degree possession of a weapon, two counts of certain persons not to possess a firearm, and four counts of aggravated fourth-degree assault.
Both Valdez and Boyd were taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with second-degree unauthorised possession of a firearm in Hackensack, New Jersey.
SoundCloud star Lil Tjay reportedly signed with Columbia Records in 2018. His first album, titled “True 2 Myself,” was released that October (2019) and reached position #5 on the Billboard 200.
The artist has over 7 million Instagram followers and over 4.9 million TikTok followers.
