Rapper Nicki Minaj's father killed in hit-and-run accident, say police

The 64-year-old father of rapper Nicki Minaj has died after being struck by a hit-and-run driver in New York, police said. Robert Maraj was walking along a road in Mineola on Long Island at 6:15 p.m. Friday when he was hit by a car that kept going, Nassau County police said. Maraj was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead Saturday.

Police are asking any witnesses to the fatal crash to come forward. While Minaj's representative confirmed her father's death, she has yet to comment on the incident.

Previously, Minaj had opened up about how her father was abusive towards her mother, and recalled how he once set fire to their house while her mother was inside.

"I remember when my mother would let my father be violent with her and she always brings up this story about when I was a little girl and I would stand in front of my mother (with my arms out to protect her)," Minaj said in a clip that features in her documentary that she posted on Instagram in 2018.

Minaj, 38, was born Onika Tanya Maraj in Trinidad and was raised in the New York City borough of Queens. She has not made any public statement about her father''s death.

-Further detailsa waited