HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - As police continue to investigate a shooting outside Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino that sent one rapper to the hospital and led to the arrest of another rapper, more details have surfaced about tensions between the two musicians.
According to an article in USA Today, the tensions between Offset and Lil Tjay go back to 2025 over an alleged gambling debt.
Multiple outlets including Black Entertainment Television reported that Offset owed thousands of dollars to Lil Tjay, and that tensions between the two went back to last year.
And it was in the valet area of the casino in Hollywood where, Seminole Police said, shots rang out Monday night.
TMZ captured pictures of Offset, 34, getting into an ambulance after, investigators said, he came under fire just after 7 p.m.
The arrest affifavit states, “Lil Tjay directed members of his party to start a fight. It goes on to say, “One of the males associated with the defendant pulled a firearm and discharged it, wounding one of the individuals.”
Police and Offset’s representatives confirmed he was the person who was shot.
Prior to the gunfire, the Grammy nominated rapper was spotted taking a picture with a fan, according to TMZ.
Seminole Police said Lil Tjay, whose real name Tione Jayden Merritt, was detained along with another person. The 24-year-old was charged with disorderly conduct and driving without a license.
7News cameras captured Lil Tjay after he bonded out of jail on Tuesday. As he walked out of the Broward County Jail, he didn’t go into much detail about the incident.
“Offset was looking at me like this, ‘He went ahead and [expletive] shot me. That [N-word] shot me,'” he said,
Lil Tjay’s attorney has not been charged with the shooting, something his attorney stressed, but he did call Offset a “rat [N-word].”
As for the rappers’ reported feud, an online back-and-forth reveals Offset owed Lil Tjay $10,000.
Outside the Broward County Jail, when asked whether Offset owes his money, Lil Tjay replied, “Ask Offset.”
From his hospital bed, Offset commented on a social media post about Lil Tjay’s jail interview, that said, “You ain’t ‘buss’ nothing.”
Another star, former NFL wide receiver Dez Bryant, posted on X that Offset owed him $8,000 and claimed they spoke just hours before the shooting.
Police said they are trying to identify at least one or more people who may have been involved in Monday’s incident.
Offset, a Grammy nominee, was a member of Migos, but the rap trio disbanded after his cousin Takeoff was shot and killed in 2022. Offset was also married to Cardi B and have three children together.
He was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital; where he continues to recover. A representative said he’s expected to be OK.
Seminole Police said that they believe Lil Tjay knows exactly who pulled the trigger, and that surveillance cameras at the Hard Rock Hotel captured the shooting as their investigation continues.
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