Rapper Lil Tjay charged with weapons offenses stemming from June shootout in Edgewater

Rapper Lil Tjay, who last year was shot in a robbery attempt in Edgewater, has been charged with weapons offenses from that day, police records show.

Tjay, whose real name is Tione Merritt, was booked at Central Municipal Court in Hackensack on Friday, according to jail records, charged with three counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon. He was released on his own recognizance the same day.

On June 22, 2022, Tjay, a Bronx native, was shot multiple times in a car during an alleged attempted robbery outside an Edgewater shopping center. According to the affidavit of probable cause for Tjay, police said they found three firearms in a subsequent search of the car.

Police previously said Mohamed Konate, 27, approached the red Dodge Durango that Tjay and two others were in on June 22, pointed a gun at them and demanded they hand over their jewelry. A shootout followed. A witness said Konate was hit by gunfire and then dragged into a white BMW that was driven by an alleged co-conspirator, according to an affidavit.

Konate was charged with attempted murder after the shootout, which injured Tjay and one other man. Konate was also shot during the encounter and was arrested at a New York City hospital hours later. Police did not say who shot Konate.

The shooting happened outside a Chipotle restaurant and The Vitamin Shoppe, part of City Place at The Promenade, a mixed-use development on a former Hudson River industrial site with stores and restaurants on the first floor and five stories of high-end condominiums above.

A 911 call obtained by The Record and NorthJersey.com seemingly came from one of the occupants of the Durango.

In it, the caller did not appear to realize he was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher. The caller could be heard yelling "open the door," "wake up" and "no!" and inaudible words before the call disconnected. That person then called back and told the dispatcher, "They shot my [inaudible]," before the call disconnected again. The dispatcher then called back, but no one answered.

In a 911 call made by a resident of The Metropolitan, an apartment complex across the street from City Place, a man told the dispatcher that there was a shooting at the Chipotle across the street and that a car was driving away from the scene.

Bergen courts 'Cold-hearted killer' or close friend: Retrial begins to decide Englewood murder case

"There's a white BMW going toward the George Washington Bridge right now," he said. "He's put somebody that was shot in his car. There's another car that's in the parking lot right now, a Durango. There's people running inside the parking lot on the bottom. People are just scattering. People are going crazy."

Tjay spent a significant amount of time in the hospital after the shooting but has since recovered. In March, he and rapper Morray released a single titled "High Price."

Tjay has over 8 million followers on Instagram and has released two studio albums through Columbia Records that each charted in the top five on the Billboard 200. His 2021 song with singer 6LACK, "Calling My Phone," debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Lil Tjay charged with weapons offenses in Edgewater NJ