A Thug On A Bike Rides Through Harlem And Opens Fire Killing An Aspiring Rapper

Bicycle thuggery in broad daylight? This can’t be real life. This man shot up the block on a bike yet nobody knows where to find him?

A bicycling gunman shot one man dead and wounded the rapper Bigga Threat in a lunchtime ambush Wednesday that rocked the Jackie Robinson Houses in East Harlem.

Laquan Parks, 28, an aspiring rapper, was lounging in a chair outside the E. 128 St. housing development when he was gunned down in the 12:15 p.m. pedal-by shooting. Cops said he was shot in the head and died instantly.

Bigga Threat, 29 – whose numerous YouTube videos include performances of his songs “C’moN Son!” and “Never Given Up” – was shot in the right thigh and taken to Harlem Hospital Center, cops said.

“I know he’ll be okay, but I don’t know if he’ll be okay mentally after this,” the rapper’s brother, Mike Edwards, told the Daily News.

Edwards said Parks and his brother were talking when the killer rode up and opened fire.

Parks’s father rushed to the scene and stared in disbelief at his son’s body slumped in his chair in the shade of construction scaffolding and covered with a sheet.

“My son was a great kid,” said the father. “He was just trying to pursue a rap career.”

Parks’ uncle, Troy Parks, a city Housing Department worker who was on the job nearby, said he almost fainted when he saw his mortally wounded nephew.

“When I first seen it, I couldn’t even stand up. I had to hang onto a pole. All I could say was ‘Why?'” said Troy Parks, 48.

“He was leaning to the left,” the uncle said. “His eyes were still open. He was looking right at me. I was trying to talk to him, but he didn’t respond.”

Cops quickly fanned out along E. 128th St. near Lexington Ave. hunting for the gunman.

A motive for the shooting remained a mystery in the early hours of the investigation, but a police source said there has been a spike in gang violence in the area.

The dead man’s body remained at the scene hours after the shooting as investigator collected shell casings and searched for clues.

Relatives said Parks was once a standout basketball player at Benjamin Franklin High School. Despite being unemployed, he encouraged his younger relatives to reach for the stars.

“He always gave me high hopes. He told me to follow my dream of being who I want to be,” said Parks’ cousin, Donell Moss, 16.

His aunt, Connie Hudgins, 43, jumped in a taxi and rushed to the scene after getting a phone call about the slaying.

“He was always there for people,” Hudgins said of Parks. “He’d go out of his way to help you. It could be anything,” she said. “He’d make you laugh, make you feel better about yourself.”

Too many lives are being taken prematurely … and for what? It’s nonsense. R.I.P., Laquan. Get well, “Bigga.”