After nearly two decades, an arrest has finally been made in a Bronx cold case dating back to New Year's Eve in 2006. According to ABC7 New York, Ahmet Gashi, 42, originally from Serbia, now faces second-degree murder charges for the death of Kemal Kolenovic, a professional middleweight boxer who was 28 years old at the time of the incident. Gashi is accused of hitting Kolenovic with his SUV during a street fight outside a bar, resulting in fatal injuries.
As New York approached the turn of 2007, a fight at a bar in the Belmont section of the Bronx escalated into a brawl. According to the New York Post, the altercation spilled into the street, and Gashi allegedly drove into the scene, accelerating toward the incident. Kolenovic, who had been attempting to intervene, was struck by the vehicle and collided headfirst with a tree. He was pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital shortly afterward.
Following the fatal event, Gashi fled the scene and remained out of reach from authorities by disappearing into the Balkans in Eastern Europe until earlier this year. Law enforcement in Kosovo apprehended Gashi after an extended period as a fugitive. Subsequently, the U.S. Marshals facilitated Gashi's extradition back to the United States, where he was transported to JFK Airport and then to central booking in the Bronx, ABC7 New York reported.
Gashi was taken into custody last Friday at Central Booking in the Bronx as the legal process moved forward to address the charges against him in connection with Kolenovic's death, according to the New York Post.
