What was supposed to be a day of celebration for Team Nicki became a day of mourning after Nicki Minaj's cousin Nicholas Telemaque was murdered near his home in Brooklyn, New York, on Monday. "Lived in Brooklyn his whole life. My precious cousin. My baby. Killed last nite," Nicki tweeted, along with a photo of Telemaque.

The Harajuku Barbie also wrote, "My cousin Nicholas. Also goes by Juse, or @brolicalcoholic. Murdered. Last nite. Near his home. Brooklyn, NY," and attached another pic.

Yesterday Minaj spent Independence Day performing in Winnipeg, Canada, as part of Britney Spears' Femme Fatale tour and also celebrated the birthday of her rumored boyfriend, hypeman Safaree "SB" Samuels, to whom she tweeted a b-day message: "HappyBirthdaySB!!!!!!!! @scaffbeezy hope u like ya gift coon!!!!"

Since tweeting about her cousin's death, Minaj hasn't sent any subsequent messages out through the social networking site as of press time.

On Monday, July 4, at approximately 2:40 a.m. ET, police responded to a call in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, where they found Telemaque, 27, with multiple gunshot wounds to the upper torso region. He was taken to Kings County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The New York Daily News reported that Telemaque had just left C-PAC nightclub, just blocks from his home, when he was shot. Police told MTV News that no arrests have been made and the investigation is still ongoing.