Wed Oct 30,11:20 PM ET

By DEVLIN BARRETT and NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, Associated Press Writers

NEW YORK (AP) - Jam Master Jay, part of the pioneering rap trio Run DMC, was shot and killed Wednesday, the group's publicist said.

Publicist Tracy Miller confirmed the death of the 37-year-old rapper, whose real name was Jason Mizell.

The shooting happened on Merrick Boulevard in the Jamaica section of Queens, a law enforcement source told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Run DMC fans were gathering at the scene, some hugging each other and crying.

The law enforcement source said the rapper was shot in the head about 7:30 p.m. and a second person was shot in the ankle and rushed to a nearby hospital. The source said the shooter was at large.

Run DMC is widely credited with helping bring hip-hop into music's mainstream, including the group's smash collaboration with Aerosmith (news - web sites) on the 1980s standard "Walk This Way."

"We always knew rap was for everyone," Mizell said in a 2001 interview with MTV. "Anyone could rap over all kinds of music."

"It wasn't the soulful R&B of the '70s and '80s," he said of the group's early work. "So we didn't want to be like the soft R&B. We wanted to go hardcore, so we put the rock-and-roll on our rap."

The trio released a greatest-hits album earlier this year. In 2001, the rappers produced Crown Royal, breaking an eight-year silence.

In 1986, the trio said they were outraged by the rise of fatal gang violence in that Los Angeles area. They called for a day of peace between warring street gangs.

"This is the first town where you feel the gangs from the minute you step into town to the time you leave," Mizell said at the time.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2002