Police say the driver who hit and killed a popular local radio DJ in Brooklyn before fleeing the scene earlier this week has been arrested.
Kevin Ozoria, 27, of Manhattan, was charged with leaving the scene resulting in death and tampering with physical evidence after turning himself in to police Friday, the NYPD said.
Police say he's suspected of hitting John Paul Guerrero, also known DJ Jinx Paul, in Brooklyn early Monday morning.
Attorney information for Ozoria was not immediately available.
Ozoria's aunt, Nery Ordonez, defended her nephew on Friday. She told NBC 4 New York that he may have been and didn't know what to do.
"Maybe he did it and maybe it was an accident but he didn't want to kill nobody," Ordonez said. "You know, you get scared."
Police had told NBC 4 New York on Thursday they were investigating whether a damaged car brought to a Brooklyn auto repair shop was the one that hit Guerrero.
A surveillance photo of the car, obtained exclusively by NBC 4 New York, shows a black sedan with a broken front windshield. A worker at the auto shop told NBC 4 he believes it could be the same car seen on surveillance video that struck and killed the DJ.
The shop worker told NBC 4 New York that a man brought in the car for repairs the same day as the hit-and-run crash. He said the man seemed like a normal customer, except for one thing -- he didn't want the car parked outside.
"He was just saying he was worried about where his car was going to be at, was it going to be in the street?" said the worker. "I told him, 'No, it's going to be in the shop."
The driver had fled the scene at Sheffield and Jamaica avenues after hitting Guerrero just after 4 a.m. Monday. NYPD Chief of Transportation Thomas Chan said witnesses told police that a woman got out of the car before taking off, though they have not determined whether she was a passenger or driver.
The development in the case comes the same day as the wake for Guerrero, a well-known radio host on Mega 97.9.
A long line of mourners gathered outside the R G Ortiz Funeral Home in the Bronx on Friday night as they waited to get into his wake. A large screen outside showed pictures of Guerrero with his coworkers, family and 6-year-old son.
Anna Loyola, a family friend, said it was a very sad moment for Guerrero's family, especially his mom, Gloria.
"He is gone. Paul is gone. This person killed him," Loyola said.
Coworker Natalia Geraldo was outside the funeral home. She said Guerrero was always trying to make people happy.
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"He always had an answer for everything," Geraldo said. "He was always very happy. He saw somebody down and he tried to cheer you up. He was just a beautiful soul, a beautiful, beautiful soul."
After Friday's wake, Guerrero's body will be flown back to his native Ecuador, where he will be buried next to his brother, who was also killed in an auto accident some years ago.
