The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office announced that three people have been arrested and charged for the beating of rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine in the locker room of a L.A. Fitness Center that hospitalized him and left him covered in bruises.
Officials say they have arrested Octavious Medina, 23, Anthony Maldonado, 25, and Rafael Medina Jr., 43, and charged them for their alleged part in the attack, according to WPTV.
Police also said that Rafael Medina Jr., the father of Octavious Medina, is a known member of the Latin Kings street gang, known by the alias “King Leo.” Official say that Medina Jr. has a high station in the street gang and is known as an “Inca,” meaning he is the president of his chapter.
Tekashi 6ix9ine, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, was at the gym on March 21 without his security guards and was pummeled in a surprise attack caught on video and published by TMZ.
Video of the incident shows a group of men kicking and punching the “Gooba” rapper as he cowered on the floor trying to protect his face.
The rainbow-haired rapper’s attorney told the media that 6ix9ine tried to fight back, but there were too many of the assailants.
Video of the incident shows at least two large men kicking and punching the rapper; he is later seen walking out of the locker room in his socks.
After gym staffers called police, the rapper was taken to a hospital with significant facial injuries. He suffered injuries to his jaw, ribs, and his back, TMZ added.
Hernandez’s attorney, Lance Lazzaro, said he intends to ask the feds to supply security for the rapper, since he was allowed early release from prison because he turned state’s witness against several gang members.
He was arrested in 2018 in connection with a shooting of a bystander in Brooklyn during a robbery of members of his gang’s rivals. In 2019 he was sentenced to a 2-year prison term in the case. By 2020, he was released from jail and ordered to serve his last four months in home confinement both over coronavirus fears and because of his testimony against gang members.
It is not clear if the beating in the Florida gym is connected to his testimony against fellow gang members. However, a new police report says that Medina Jr. was later seen with the rapper’s expensive gym shoes, which were reportedly worth up to $4,000 a pair.
Hernandez had other troubles in March, when he was thrown out of a Miami baseball stadium for causing a drunken disturbance, PageSix reported.
“He was drunk, he was inebriated, and he was out of control,” an eyewitness told the media at the time. “There were a lot of families there last night and he was bothering people.”
The rapper has a long history of arrests. In 2015 he pleaded guilty to a felony count of using a child in a sexual performance in a rap music video, in 2018 he was arrested for attacking a teen in a Texas shopping mall, New York Police suspected he was somehow involved in the shooting of rapper Chief Keef, and along with the trial of the Nine Trey gang as noted above, he has been arrested in several domestic violence incidents.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.