What happened to Ankhal? Puerto Rican rapper in critical condition after being shot in car

Puerto Rican rapper Ankhal is reportedly in critical condition after suffering multiple gunshot wounds in a shootout in Fajardo on Tuesday, February 22. The musician was reportedly shot while inside a vehicle with two other passengers.

According to Rolling Stone, police responded to a 911 report at around 10:17 pm on Las Flores Avenue in the Florencio neighborhood of Fajardo and found the musician covered in severe gunshot wounds.

His fellow passenger, 25-year-old Jose De Leon, was also found in a similar condition at the scene. The men were initially taken to a local hospital, but had to be transferred to Rio Piedras Medical Center to undergo emergency surgery due to the severity of their injuries.

No individual has been arrested in connection with the case at the time of writing, but Joaquin de la Cruz Santiago, Director of the Criminal Investigation Corps (CIC), told El Nuevo Dia that the singer’s car was apparently approached and later shot at by two “masked individuals.”

Officials said no motive for the case has been identified so far, but police are continuing to investigate the situation.

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Everything to know about rapper Ankhal

Ankhal is a Puerto Rican rapper and musician (Image via Carbon Fiber Music)

Anthony Khalil Mercado Diaz, aka Ankhal, is a Puerto Rican rapper and musician. Born in 2000, he grew up in Kissimmee, Florida and started showing interest in music as a child, eventually establishing a career in the freestyle music industry.

Interestingly, the 21-year-old is also a talented baseball player and previously earned a university scholarship in the United States as an athlete. However, he rejected the offer to pursue a career in music and participated in the FreeStyle Mania competition in 2018.

The musician gained recognition in the Puerto Rican music industry after winning the battle and released his viral song Antijudas that same year. The song garnered over 300,000 organic plays on SoundCloud and earned the singer a significant fanbase in his country.

He then signed with independent label Carbon Fiber Music in 2019 and released the single CFM Ganga Remix with singer-songwriter Farruko. The track received more than two million views on YouTube in just 48 hours and has already crossed one million streams on Spotify.

The singer later went on to collaborate with fellow musicians like Lary Over, Jhay Cortez, Myke Towers and Brray, among others. His 2020 song, Perreo Intenso, with Farruko and Guaynaa garnered more than 32 million streams.

Diaz reportedly has around one million monthly listeners on Spotify and was highlighted by Billboard as an artist to watch in 2022.