Robert Maraj, the 68-year-old father of popular American rapper Nicki Manaj, has died after he was struck by a hit-and-run driver in New York.
In a statement on Sunday, Nassau County Police say Robert was killed after being hit by a vehicle on a road in Long Island, New York at around 6pm on Friday.
“According to detectives, while walking in the roadway on Roslyn Rd at the intersection of Raff Ave, a 64-year-old male was struck by a northbound, undescribed, vehicle that left the scene of the accident,” the release stated.
Police said Mr. Maraj was transported to a hospital in critical condition before he was pronounced dead by a hospital doctor on Saturday.
The Homicide Squad is investigating the case and asking any witnesses to the fatal crash to come forward. There was not a decent description of the suspect vehicle provided.
The 38-year-old rapper, who was born Onika Tanya Maraj in Trinidad and raised in the New York City borough of Queens, has not made any public statement about her father’s death.
The tragic news comes four months after the ‘Super Bass’ rapper welcomed her first child with husband, Kenneth Petty.