Rod Wave, Billboard Chart-Topping Rapper, Arrested on Weapons Charges

Rod Wave was arrested for possession of ammunition or a weapon in Manatee County, Florida on Wednesday, the St. Petersburg Police Department has confirmed.

According to police, Rod — the rapper and singer born Rodarius Marcell Green — was arrested due to suspicions he had been involved in a gang-related shooting in Florida that left four injured. That altercation was said to have happened on the night of March 31.

In a statement, Petersburg police said shots were fired among what appeared to be a group of men in a verbal argument. The victims were three men in their 20s and a 17-year-old woman, all of whom suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Once arrested, Rod was taken to Manatee County Jail where he was identified as a convicted felon, which his attorneys have since publicly denied with statements on social media. They also refute that Rod owned ammunition.

“Rod was arrested and detained with absolutely no evidence of wrongdoing,” attorneys Bradford Cohen and Mark Rankin wrote on Instagram. “The police claimed he was a felon in possession of ammunition. Not only was he not in possession of ammunition, a basic check of public records would have easily demonstrated to the police that he was not a convicted felon. The prosecutor and the judge immediately agreed that the evidence did not support the charge and set him free the same day.”

Variety has reached out to the St. Petersburg Police Department for further clarification.

Rod was arrested in 2022 for unrelated charges of domestic battery by strangulation after allegedly strangling his ex-girlfriend. “This case was a misunderstanding between a girlfriend and boyfriend,” Cohen told Rolling Stone at the time. “That misunderstanding resulted in Mr. Green’s arrest.” That same year, he released his second Billboard 200-topping album, “Beautiful Mind” and followed up in 2023 with “Nostalgia.” The latter included a feature from 21 Savage on the track “Turks & Caicos” and spent two weeks at No. 1.