NEW YORK — Detectives have determined that Lil' Kim was inside her limousine when gunfire erupted outside a radio station where she had just been interviewed on Sunday, and the limo sped off with some of the men believed to have been involved, according to a police source.

Although police originally said the rapper left the scene 15 minutes earlier, the source said the car didn't begin to speed off until the first shots were fired.

Officials remained tight-lipped about the case on Tuesday (February 27) because of an ongoing investigation. What is known is that shortly after 3 p.m. Sunday, as Lil' Kim (born Kimberly Jones) was exiting the offices of Hot 97 in Lower Manhattan, she and her entourage ran into Capone (Kiam Holley), one half of rap duo Capone-N-Noreaga, and his posse. An argument between an unspecified number of men erupted, and shots were fired.

Efrain Ocasio, 31, was shot in the back and later admitted himself to St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan. He was released the next day.

Officials have not officially determined a motive for the shooting, but the New York Daily News has quoted police sources as saying an onging war of words between Lil' Kim and fellow femme fatale Foxy Brown was believed to be behind the shooting.

Detectives have seized a security tape with footage of the incident and are attempting to identify and interview the parties involved, including Kim and Capone. Several neighborhood witnesses are also being questioned, according to the police source.

Kim and Capone were both guests of WQHT-FM disc jockey DJ Clue, whose album The Professional 2, released Tuesday (February 27), features the artists on the tracks "Chinatown" and "I Don't Care," respectively.

Lil' Kim's management company denies she was involved in the confrontation. "Lil' Kim and her security had nothing to do whatsoever with the incident at Hot 97," a spokesperson said in a statement. "Kim had no knowledge of any argument or what instigated the gunfire."

The war of words between Lil' Kim and Foxy Brown began when the latter was dissed on Lil' Cease's "Play Around," a track on his 1999 album, The Wonderful World of Cease A Leo, that featured Sean "Puffy" Combs and Lil' Kim. In the song, Puffy directs the line "Stop trying to sound like her" at Brown, referring to her rap style on Chyna Doll (1998), which some compared to that of Lil' Kim.

Kim struck again the following year on The Notorious K.I.M. with the title track's verse of "you ain't a star, and your record company know that," directed at Brown.

Brown retaliated with a verse in "Bang Bang," a song off Capone-N-Noreaga's latest album, The Reunion: "Could give a f--- if your album pushed back/ 'Cause when it hit the streets, bitch, it's still weak/ It still sound lame, and my name still reign."

In November, Noreaga explained his group's part in the rift between the sexy sirens. "Fox and Kim had beef, whether we was gonna do 'Bang Bang' or not. Fox would have been on someone else's record spittin' the same thing. So what I'm sayin' is we ain't got no beef, we just representin'. ... Let the females cat fight, and whatever happens, happens. ... But if she needs us to be in her corner to make sure ain't nobody gonna jump in, we'll definitely be there."

Calls to representatives for Lil' Kim and Hot 97 were unreturned at press time. Spokespeople for Capone-N-Noreaga had no comment.