QUEENS — Police are offering a $2,500 reward for information about the murder of Queens rapper Chinx, just as his posthumous album is about to come out Friday.
Lionel Pickens, 31, who was known as Chinx, was killed in a drive-by shooting May 17 in Briarwood.
On Thursday, the NYPD offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspect who fatally shot Pickens. No one has been arrested, and the motive behind the shooting remains unclear.
On May 17, Chinx performed at a Bensonhurst club and then headed to a hookah bar in Fresh Meadows with a friend. When they found the shop closed, they decided to call it a night, police said.
Around 4 A.M., Chinx drove his friend to a nearby subway station when a barrage of bullets was fired at his silver Porsche while stopped at a red light on Queens Boulevard and 84th Drive, according to the NYPD.
The rapper was shot multiple times in the torso and legs, police said. He was later pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital. His friend suffered two gunshot wounds to his back.
Pickens, who grew up in Far Rockaway, was a member of French Montana's "Coke Boys."
His album "Welcome to JFK," scheduled to be released Aug. 14, features 12 songs, including collaborations with French Montana, according to published reports.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS.
