The suspect accused of shooting and attempting to rob Bronx rapper Lil TJay and one of his friends in Edgewater, NJ, has been arrested by Bergen County law officials, according to Daily Voice.
While law enforcement has locked in on the shooter, the artist is healing from his injuries, including damage to the thoracic cavity and the area around his rib cage that contains the heart, lungs, esophagus, and more.
Lil Tjay is now breathing independently after doctors removed a tube to help him. His health is said to be improving at Hackensack University Medical Center, where he was airlifted after the shooting.
Mohamed Konate, an ex-con who was also wounded in a shootout, is locked up after NYPD extradited him for the June shooting.
As reported by AllHipHop.com, the 27-year-old tried to rob Lil TJay, Antoine Boyd, and Jeffrey Valdez for their jewelry. He walked up and brandished his firearm at the three while they sat in a Dodge Durango in a lot of the Promenade shopping center around midnight on June 22nd.
Konate thought the three were easy marks, an investigation revealed, until someone in the car started blasting back at him.
Lil TJay, whose real name is Tione Jayden Merritt, and his friend Antoine Boyd were wounded.
But so was Konate.
An injured Konate escaped with the help of another man in a BMW after the shooting and was taken to Lennox Hill Hospital on East 77th Street off Park Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side left.
NYPD detectives arrested Konate at the hospital on June 24th and took him to Riker’s Island. His associate remains unidentified and is said to be cooperating with investigators.
Reports say Lil Tjay is not all the way cleared health-wise but can now talk to his friends, family, and close associates.