BRONX, New York — Police have made an arrest in a nearly 18-year-old cold case murder that happened in the Bronx on New Year’s Eve in 2006.
Ahmet Gashi, 42, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder on Friday.
Gashi, a native of Serbia, was taken into custody in connection with the homicide of Kemal Kolenovic, a 28-year-old professional middleweight boxer who tragically lost his life on December 31, 2006.
On that day, police responded to a 911 call for a pedestrian struck near Crescent Avenue and Belmont Avenue around 4:35 a.m.
On the eve of 2007 in New York, a group of individuals became intoxicated at a bar in the Belmont area. The altercation escalated onto the street, turning into a full-blown brawl.
Police say Gashi at the time of the incident jumped in his SUV and hit the gas.
Kolenovic had simply been going about his evening and was among a crowd trying to intervene and stop the fighting, when according to authorities, Gashi forcibly collided with them.
Kolenovic flew headfirst into a tree. EMS responded and took him to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Gashi fled the scene and disappeared to the Balkans in eastern Europe.
Earlier this year, authorities in Kosovo placed him under arrest.
U.S. Marshals arranged extradition, and before he knew it, Gashi was back at JFK Airport.
On Friday night, he was on his way to central booking in the Bronx.
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