The father of the iconic rapper Nicki Minaj was killed over the weekend in a devastating hit-and-run in New York. He was 64 years-old.

Minaj’s rep confirmed to Entertainment Tonight that Robert Maraj was indeed killed in the tragedy. The Nassau County Police Department released a statement saying that Maraj was walking on a road in Long Island at around 6pm on Friday when he was struck by a car, and the driver fled the scene immediately afterwards.

“According to detectives, while walking in the roadway on Roslyn Road at the intersection of Raff Avenue, a 64-year-old male was struck by a northbound, un-described, vehicle that left the scene of the accident,” police said.

Maraj was rushed to a local hospital, but he died of his injuries sometime over the weekend. Homicide Squad detectives are currently investigating the incident with the hopes of tracking down the driver.

Minaj is a 38 year-old rapper who was born in Trinidad as Onika Tanya Maraj, before she was raised in the New York City borough of Queens, according to Yahoo News. She has yet to issue any public statement about her father’s passing.

It is unclear what kind of relationship Minaj had with her father at the time of his death. Back in 2010, she told Rolling Stone that her father had been violent towards her mother, claiming that he once set their house on fire while her mom was inside of it. Minaj said that while her parents were still together at the time and her dad would rather her not share that kind of story, she felt it was important to do so anyway because of the mistakes he had made.

“It’s the price you pay when you abuse drugs and alcohol,” she said at the time. “Maybe one day your daughter will be famous and talk to every magazine about it, so think about that, dads out there who want to be crazy.”

“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,” Minaj said as she showed how she put her arms out for protection in her 2018 documentary Queen. “That’s why maybe some people would describe me as abrasive or bitchy or whatever because I vowed from that age no man would ever abuse me, call me out my name, treat me like that. Then all of a sudden, that was my life.”