Suspect Arrested in Lil Tjay Shooting

Lil Tjay

Rick Kern/Getty Images

Suspect Arrested in Lil Tjay Shooting

  /  06.23.2022

A suspect has been arrested in connection with the shooting of Lil Tjay.

Mohamed Konate of New York was taken into custody on Wednesday and is facing three counts of first-degree attempted murder, along with armed robbery and weapons charges, announced the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

Lil Tjay, whose real name is Tione Merritt, was shot multiple times during the attempted robbery. Police responded to 911 calls just after midnight on Wednesday about a shooting at a Chipotle restaurant at City Place at the Promenade in Edgewater, New Jersey, where they discovered Merritt with multiple gunshot wounds and one of his associates, Antoine Boyd, with a single gunshot wound.

Konate had attempted armed robbery against the three men when the shooting occurred, according to an investigation by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit and the Edgewater Police Department. Boyd, along with Jeffrey Valdez, were with Tjay when the shooting occurred and were arrested and charged with second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon.

According to TMZ, Tjay underwent emergency surgery for his injuries. His condition has been upgraded from critical to stable condition.

In the wake of the shooting, Lil Tjay’s peers including Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry, French Montana, and Rubi Rose have shared their support for the “Calling My Phone” rapper.