While most families were off celebrating during the the Fourth of July, rapper Nicki Minaj and her family were plagued with sudden tragedy when her older cousin Nicholas Telemaque was murdered near his Brooklyn home after leaving a local nightclub early Monday morning.
Minaj, who spent the Fourth of July performing on Britney Spears’ Femme Fatale tour in Winnipeg, Canada, tweeted the tragic news to her fans yesterday afternoon.
“Lived in Brooklyn his whole life. My precious cousin. My baby. Killed last nite,” tweeted a clearly distraught Minaj, attaching a photo of Telemaque as well.
Minaj followed up with a second tweet, sharing a bit more detail about Telemaque’s murder as well as another photo of her cousin.
“*My cousin Nicholas. Also goes by Juse, or @brolicalcoholic* Murdered. Last nite. Near his home. Brooklyn,NY,” she tweeted.
According to the New York Daily News, the 27-year-old had just left C-PAC nightclub just blocks away from his East Flatbush, Brooklyn home when he was shot multiple times in the torso by an unknown assailant as he walked to his car at E. 52nd St. and Farragut Road at about 2:40 a.m.
“It’s disgusting,” said cousin Roger Clarke, 41. “Young kids, they don’t value someone’s life.”
Telemaque was taken to Kings County Hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival.
As told to RadarOnline, Telemaque’s cousin, Carol Clarke, says that Minaj is devastated by her cousin’s death.
“Nicki is absolutely devastated as are all our family. She was very close to her cousin but, now, he has gone,” said Clarke. “She has reached out to Nicholas’ mom, Victoria, to offer her words of comfort, but she is too distraught. Nicholas was a quiet person, but he could be the life and soul of the party, too. He did not run with gangs or anything like that.”
Clarke also claims that several of the rapper’s family members believe that Telemaque’s murder was the result of an unfortunate case of mistaken identity.
“His friends have told us there wasn’t any trouble that night, and we believe it could have been a case of mistaken identity, but the police are still investigating the case,” said Clarke. “We are still trying to make arrangements for his funeral, but I will really miss him because he was a good person.”
Police have made no arrests in the ongoing investigation and are looking for more witnesses to come forward.
It’s unclear whether Minaj will take time off of the Femme Fatale tour to mourn the loss of her cousin. Our condolences go out to Minaj and her family. –nicholas robinson
