Chinx Drugz death: NYPD investigate drive-by shooting link to 2007 murder of Stack Bundles
The deadly drive-by shooting of Queens rapper Lionel “Chinx” Pickens early Sunday could have a connection to the mysterious murder of his music mentor Stack Bundles eight years ago, police brass said Tuesday.
Bundles, whose real name was Rayquan Elliott, was gunned down near the lobby of his Far Rockaway apartment building shortly before 6 a.m. on June 11, 2007.
Pickens, 31, was serving four years in prison for cases involving robbery and crack cocaine when Bundles was ambushed and shot once in the head and once in the thigh at age 24.
“They were friends, Stack Bundles and Chinx. They were friends, so we're looking at all hip-hop angles," NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.
The murders share eerie similarities.
Both men were up-and-coming rappers who drove Porsches and had new music about to drop. Both had ties to bigger stars and were killed in early morning hours shortly after they performed locally.
Bundles had collaborated with rappers including Fabolous and Joe Budden. His mentor was Jim Jones of the Dipset and ByrdGang groups.
Pickens was a member of French Montana's Coke Boys group and recently collaborated with Meek Mill.
Montana, 30, is the CEO of Cocaine City Records and the on-again off-again boyfriend of reality star Khloé Kardashian.
“I miss you Chinxy," Khloé wrote in a social media post Sunday.
Asked if police were concerned about the notoriety of the case and its Kardashian connection, Boyce said "We certainly are. There's always the issue of retaliation in these things."
Pickens was piloting his Porsche Panamera with another member of his Coke Boys crew Sunday when the gunfire erupted about 4 a.m.
Antar Alziadi, who goes by the name Yemen Chee$e, survived the barrage of bullets and was rushed to Jamaica Hospital with gunshot wounds to his back, cops said.
Alziadi blasted haters in an angry Instagram video Tuesday as he announced he's heading home.
"All you motherf------ fake-a-- motherf-----s that's hating and talking s--- on my f------ page, get the f--- out of here with that s---," he said as he wagged a finger at the camera while sitting in his hospital bed.
"I'm alive. And I'm coming home," he said.
The 27-year-old producer no longer had the oxygen tubes he was wearing in an earlier hospital pic.
Cops said Alziadi spoke to them after the shooting and was cooperative.
Boyce said there was no evidence of a fight at Club Red Wolf in Brooklyn — where Chinx performed a set about 2:30 a.m. — triggered the violence.
"Right now, we don't have anybody not cooperating. There is no fight in the club. We got (that) from numerous sources," he said.
Twelve shell casings were recovered from the scene of the shooting near Queens Blvd. at 84th Drive in Briarwood.
Cops said Pickens had two security guys driving in a vehicle in front of him — a breach of his normal protocol.
Boyce said security usually drove the rapper around, but Pickens chose to drive himself that night for an undisclosed reason.
Fans visited a makeshift memorial Tuesday to light candles and take pictures of the posters and messages honoring Pickens.
"I've seen Chinx in person," said Briarwood resident Manny Aguilar, 24, who said he met Pickens at a Queens club last year. "I like his music. How could s--- like this happen? I couldn't believe it happened here."
Relatives continued to rally around Pickens' widow, Janelli Caceres, Tuesday at the couple's tidy two-story brick duplex in Ozone Park.
They said funeral arrangements were still pending.
"The pain of picking out a casket," Caceres, 28, said in a heartbreaking post to her Facebook page Tuesday.
In a post at 3:30 a.m., she said she was out on the couple's porch, staring at memorial candles and talking to her dead husband.
"When will I ever sleep again, I don't know," she wrote. "I won't ever heal from this! I miss u baby I love u n I'll do anything to hear ya voice again!"
Pickens is also survived by their three kids — a 4-year-old son and daughters ages 11 and 14.
"It's very hard, heartbreaking. It's tragic. He didn't die after an illness. He was murdered. It's nothing that you can ever prepare for. We are just shocked," Caceres told the Daily News on Monday.
"He was not the kind of person who got involved in trouble. That just wasn't him," she said. "He spent as much time with his kids as possible, outside work. His life was his family and his music."
In a song titled "Bodies" released late last year, he rhymed about a life of crime.
"I be with them n----- that jack and do robberies," he rapped. "I be with them killers, them n----s that target your face."
His latest single was due out this week, and he has a new unreleased album already recorded, his publicist said.
The single will now be delayed until after his funeral, the spokeswoman said.
"It was going to be a big summer for him," publicist Chanel Rae McFadzean told the News.
She said a public viewing likely will be part of the final funeral plans.
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