Ja Rule

Queens rapper Ja Rule’s after-Christmas bash at the midtown LQ club was interrupted at 3:45 a.m. Monday when shots rang out across the street from the nightspot, killing an as-yet-unidentified 39-year-old man and wounding his friend, according to Detective John Sweeney of the New York Police Department.

The shooter and a friend reportedly ran out of the club after an argument and opened fire on the two men standing on the corner. The 39-year-old man was shot in the torso and buttocks and died hours later at Bellevue Hospital, police said. His identity was not immediately released.

The friend a  37-year-old was in stable condition at a New York Hospital, where police were waiting to interview him yesterday.

Detectives were probing whether the shooting was drug-related or connected to a string of other club shootings in the city, police sources said.

More than 300 people were inside the club at the time, reportedly including "Fat Albert" star Kenan Thompson, though it is unknown if Ja was present when the shots rang out.

Police are still investigating the shooting and have not yet announced a motive. Cops were scanning footage from more than 30 surveillance cameras in and outside the club, equipped with a metal detector.

"This could be an ongoing feud between them," one police source said. Both victims have long rap sheets, but the nature of the dispute was unclear.

"Nothing like this has ever happened before," said Ruben Rodriguez, manager of the plush 13-month-old dinner and dance club. "Everybody gets searched and patted down."

Police recovered a handgun and at least five shell casings.

A spokesperson for rapper Ja Rule could not be reached for comment.

The suspect was described as an African-American male in his 20s who was wearing a yellow coat as he fled the scene.

One week before this latest incident a fan was shot outside of another one of the Queens rappers afterpartys in Peoria, Illinois.

Police in Peoria are investigating the nightclub shooting that occurred December 20 during that party where Ja performed at the Peoria Civic Center