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Three people arrested over brutal beating of Tekashi 6ix9ine outside gym sauna

Footage this month showed the rapper being beaten on the floor by multiple assailants

Tom Murray
Friday 31 March 2023 19:21 BST
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Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine brutally beaten inside Florida gym

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Three people have been arrested in connection to the assault on controversial rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine earlier this month.

Footage showed the 26-year-old FEFE MC – real name Daniel Hernandez – lying on the ground outside a Florida gym sauna while being hit by multiple assailants.

Rafael Medina Jr, 43, Octavious Medina, 23, and Anthony Maldonado, 25, have now been arrested for assaulting and robbing, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office confirmed on Thursday (30 March).

According to People, police records show all three men are being held at Palm Beach County Jail and are expected to attend their first hearing on Friday (31 March).

In a statement to NBC News after the incident, Hernandez’s attorney, Lance Lazzaro, said the rapper was attacked in the sauna by “three or four thugs who beat him up”.

“Employees heard the disturbance and the perpetrators fled,” Lazzaro said. “Police in South Florida were called and he was transported via ambulance to a local hospital.”

The Independent has contacted Lazzaro for comment.

TMZ obtained pictures of the rapper in hospital, which show cuts and bruises on his face.

6ix9ine has previously claimed to be in fear for his life after he testified against members of the Nine Trey gang in 2018, which resulted in a shortened sentence after he was arrested for racketeering, attempted murder and several weapons charges.

“I will never lead a normal life since my cooperation made me a target for Nine Trey as well as other gangs,” he said, according to the court documents. “I live with that fear every day.”

Last year, the rapper told a judge that he was “struggling to make ends meet” in response to a lawsuit brought against him by victims of a 2018 robbery he was present for.

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His accountant, Justin Kobay, claimed that 6ix9ine’s net worth stands at “technically less than zero”.

A three-part documentary series, Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6ix9ine, was released on Showtime in the US last year.

In interviews promoting the project, director Karam Gill, who did not meet 6ix9ine, called the rapper a “horrible human being”.

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