Tekashi 6ix9ine was rushed to the hospital after being attacked at a South Florida gym on Tuesday. The rapper, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, was attacked by multiple men without warning. He suffered gashes to his face and a series of injuries to his jaw, ribs, and back.
Hernandez’s attorney, Lance Lazzaro, told TMZ his client tried to fight off the men at an LA Fitness gym, but there were too many. They “beat him to a pulp” before fleeing the scene. Hernandez did not have a security team with him at the time. The gym’s staff noticed the commotion and a manager called the police to the scene.
Videos by PopCulture.com
The “Gotti” rapper was rushed to a nearby hospital by ambulance. TMZ published photos of Hernandez’s injuries, showing swelling and cuts to his face. He also suffered injuries to his jaw, ribs, and back. Lazzaro said he plans to call federal authorities to get Hernandez protection in the future.
TMZ later obtained footage from part of the attack. It appears to have been shared on social media at first. It includes a cation reading, “King s—. We caught 6ix9ine. Slapping f— a rat. Not in our hood.”
Days before the attack video surfaced, Hernandez was reportedly removed from a baseball stadium in Maimi on Friday because he was drunk and disturbing those around him. “He was heavily intoxicated and interrupting other guests’ experience,” a source told Page Six. “He was drunk, he was inebriated and he was out of control. There were a lot of families there last night and he was bothering people.”
Hernandez faced life in prison when he was arrested in 2018 on federal racketeering and firearm charges, with federal authorities saying he was part of the Nine Trey Gangsters, a sect of the Bloods street gang. In 2019, he pleaded guilty to nine charges and could have faced up to 47 years in prison. However, he agreed to testify against other Nine Trey Gangsters members and he was sentenced to two years. Hernandez was allowed to serve part of the sentence at home after the COVID-19 pandemic due to his asthma. His sentence ended on Aug. 1, 2020.
In an interview with The New York Times the month after his release, Hernandez said he never considered witness protection. “They were like, ‘Yeah, it wouldn’t work anyway because your face tattoos. You’re too noticeable,’” he said. Hernadez added that he had no worries about testifying. “This probably sounds sick, but I didn’t have a worry, because I wanted to testify,” he said. “That’s sick, right? But I wanted to tell my truth.”
Hernandez also noted he wasn’t scared of dying. “I worry about it, but I’m not scared of it,” he said in September 2020. “The streets is a myth. Right now, if I left this interview and took the train by myself to Bed-Stuy, I wouldn’t come back. If you took a trip to an island full of cannibals, are you coming back? But you don’t put yourself in stupid situations.”
