LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Police say rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight is a "person of interest" in a hit-and-run in Los Angeles that left one man dead and another person in the hospital.

No other details were given by Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Trina Schrader.

Knight, the co-founder of Death Row Records, ran over two bystanders as he tried to flee a fight on a film set in the city of Compton in southern Los Angeles, his attorney James Blatt told Entertainment Weekly.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy Ryan Rouzan told AFP there was a fatal traffic collision at 2:55 pm (2255 GMT), leaving one man dead and another person in the hospital.

Lieutenant John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department detective's unit said the authorities were treating the case as a homicide, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Celebrity news website TMZ reported that witnesses said Knight was involved in a film shoot featuring rappers Ice Cube and Dr. Dre.

Ice Cube posted a picture on his Instagram account earlier on Jan 29, saying that he was filming a commercial in Compton.

A fight broke out between Knight and two men, TMZ said, and Knight was trying to drive away as the incident occurred.

Knight co-founded Death Row Records along with hip-hop music king Dr. Dre in the early 1990s. The label helped launch stars such as Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur before it collapsed in 1996 when Knight was jailed for parole violations.

Knight was jailed after he violated a 1992 probation order by beating up a gang rival in the desert gambling city of Las Vegas.

He landed up in jail again, this time for 10 months, in 2003 after allegedly getting into a fight outside a Hollywood nightclub.

Knight was last year shot six times at a music awards party.