Three men have been arrested in connection with the shooting of Lil Tjay, one of which police believe to have been the shooter. Police say the rapper was the victim of an alleged attempted robbery.
On Wednesday evening (June 22), the Bergen County, N.J. Prosecutor's Office released a statement revealing that 27-year-old Mohamed Konate has been arrested and accused of being the primary suspect in the shooting of Tjay. Konate has been charged with three counts of attempted murder, three counts of armed robbery and various other unlawful weapons charges.
According to the Edgewater, N.J. Police Department, Lil Tjay was shot in the early hours of Wednesday morning when Konate allegedly attempted to rob the "In My Head" artist and two other men he was with at the time. When the shooting went down, Tjay and his two associates, Jeffery Valdez and Antoine Boyd, were reportedly at The Promenade, an upscale shopping center in Edgewater, N.J. Konate's extradition to New Jersey is currently pending after he was arrested by detectives from both the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office and the New York City Police Department.
As previously reported, 22-year-old Lil Tjay was one of two victims shot in the posh New Jersey area just after midnight with one of TJay's aforementioned friends being the other victim.
In the midst of the investigation, both Jeffery Valdez and Antoine Boyd were arrested after police say they were each charged with possession of an unlawful weapon. Valdez and Boyd have been remanded to custody in Bergen County Jail and will have their first court appearance at the Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack, N.J. at an undisclosed time.
Lil Tjay was reportedly shot multiple times during the alleged attempted robbery. Following emergency surgery, TMZ reported that the Bronx, N.Y. native was upgraded from critical to stable condition.
When news of the shooting broke, the Bergen County, N.J. Prosecutor's Office released a statement about the incident.
"The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit and the Edgewater Police Department are investigating a shooting that occurred at 14 The Promenade, Edgewater, NJ on Wednesday, June 22, 2022," the statement reads. "At approximately 12:08 a.m. on June 22, the Edgewater Police Department responded to a 911 call reporting a shooting at that address. Responding officers found a 22-year-old victim with multiple gunshot wounds. Officers also responded to the Exxon Station located at 478 River Road, Edgewater, where they located another 22-year-old victim with a gunshot wound. Both victims were transported to an area hospital where they are being treated."
XXL has reached out to Lil Tjay's team and the Edgewater Police Department for comment.
Lil Tjay, a 2020 XXL Freshmen, rose to prominence in 2019 following his December 2018 project No Comparison. He followed up with big singles like "Zoo York" featuring Pop Smoke and Fivio Foreign and "FN," and the albums True 2 Myself in 2019 and Destined 2 Win in 2021. As of late, he's been working on the follow-up to his project Strictly4MyFans and has recently released the singles "In My Head" and "Goin Up".