Police on Wednesday were investigat ing whether the fatal shooting of underground rapper Mac Dre resulted from his decision not to perform at a party where he had been billed as a headline attraction.

But they got little cooperation, they said, from the associates of Andre Hicks, the Bay Area rapper known as Mac Dre.

Only two of the 12 to 15 members of Mac Dre's entourage have talked with police, Homicide Sgt. Barb Eckert said Tuesday.

"They hid in their hotel rooms and would not answer the door," Eckert said. "Then they flew back to California."

Mac Dre, 34, was killed early Monday when a vehicle pulled beside the van he was in on U.S. 71 and began shooting.

Eckert said Hicks was in town from Sacramento for a series of weekend concerts and appearances.

She said a local promoter rented out a private club, the Atlantic Star, sold tickets for $15 to $20, and distributed fliers saying Hicks would perform there Sunday night. But the rapper was not paid to perform and only stayed at the party for 30 minutes, she said.

"Several people wanted their money back," Eckert said. "We heard there may have been a confrontation there."

Police believe Hicks left the party around 10:30 p.m. Sunday; the shooting was about five hours later.

"We know something happened that made someone mad," Eckert said.

Hicks recorded more than a dozen albums, with the first released in 1989.

In the early 1990s, police began investigating Hicks and several associates who were suspected of being members of Vallejo's Romper Room Gang, which was suspected in a string of bank and business robberies.

Hicks was eventually charged in federal court with conspiracy to commit bank robbery after he and several others were arrested while preparing to rob a bank.

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