HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - Rapper Lil Tjay was arrested, charged and bonded out of jail, one day after a shooting that rocked the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood sent fellow rapper Offset to the hospital, police said.
Lil Tjay, whose real name is Tione Jayden Merritt, faces charges of disorderly conduct and driving without a license in the aftermath of Monday night’s shooting in the hotel’s valet area.
7News cameras captured Lil Tjay walking out of jail on Tuesday afternoon. He smiled as he saw news cameras.
“What’s up?” he said.
“What happened?” said 7News reporter Alex Browning.
“Tell me about the fight at the casino,” said another reporter.
“Fight who?” said Lil Tjay.
Later, as he walked on the sidewalk, the rapper said: “Offset was looking at me saying, ‘That [expletive] shot me. That [expletive] shot me.'”
Seminole Police responded to the scene of the incident at around 7 p.m. on Monday. They said it all started with a fight at the casino.
According to reports, Lil Tjay, 24, and Offset, 34, were together at the casino. At one point, Offset took a photo with a fan.
Then chaos ensued in an area normally bustling with guests. Lil Tjay’s attorney, however, stressed that his client has not been charged in the shooting.
According to the arrest report, “Lil Tjay directed members of his party to start a fight…One of the males associated with the defendant pulled a firearm and discharged it, wounding one of the individuals…”
Cellphone video posted to social media by Only in Dade shows a man being pulled away while yelling and another man being held down on the ground by police.
Photos obtained by TMZ, an entertainment news outlet, shows Offset getting into an ambulance after the shooting.
Seminole Police said Lil Tjay and another person were detained, and Lil Tjay was later placed under arrest. They said the second individual has not been charged and that they are looking to identify more people involved in the incident.
As of Tuesday afternoon, it’s unclear who was the gunman.
As for Offset, he was transported to Memorial Regional Hospital, where he continues to recover. A spokesperson for the rapper said he “is stable and closely being monitored.”
Offset was part of a rap trio called Migos, but it was disbanded after his cousin Takeoff was shot and killed in 2022. Offset was also married to rapper Cardi B for several years, and they have three children together.
Police cordoned off the valet area at Seminole Hard Rock with crime scene tape for hours as they attempted to get to the bottom of what happened there.
Seminole Police believe Lil Tjay knows the gunman.
An investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.