Ja Rule and Lil Wayne have been arrested and charged with criminal possession of a weapon in separate incidents, police said.
The best-selling rappers were arrested Sunday night (July 22) shortly after Lil Wayne’s concert at the Beacon Theatre. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Ja Rule had also performed.
Ja Rule, whose real name is Jeff Atkins, lives in Saddle Brook, N.J. Lil Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Carter, is from Miami.
Officers spotted Carter, 24, and another man smoking marijuana by a tour bus near 61st Street and Columbus Avenue at about 11:30 p.m., police said. The officers took the two men into custody, finding a .40-caliber pistol. Both were charged with criminal possession of a weapon and marijuana.
Atkins, 31, was arrested about an hour earlier on West End Avenue. Police said he was in a luxury sedan that was going too fast. Officers stopped the car and arrested the occupants – Atkins, the driver and another man – and found a .40-caliber gun, police said.