The best friend of murdered Bronx boxer Kemal Kolenovic hopes the accused killer’s capture 18 years later will bring some solace to the victim’s family.
Suspect Ahmet Gashi, 42, who is from Serbia, fled to Kosovo after allegedly running down Kolenovic with an SUV outside a Bronx bar on Dec. 31, 2006.
“Does it change anybody’s life that he got caught?” asked the victim’s pal, fellow boxer and cornerman Elvir Muriqi. “(The killer’s) life, yes. But he deserves that, to be honest. He deserves what he gets.”
The Bronx D.A.’s office issued an international “red notice” arrest warrant and U.S. marshals joined forces with local law enforcement in Kosovo to finally apprehend Gashi —who arrived in New York City Friday morning and was charged with murder.
Police identified Gashi as a suspect within days of the killing.
“I think it will bring peace at least to (Kolenovic’s) mother and his sisters,” Muriqi, 45, told the Daily News.
The slain pro boxer’s family lives in Germany.
“When they hear the news I’m sure they will be relieved a little bit,” he said. “They’re not bringing nothing back to be honest but at the same time, it will make them feel better.”
Muriqi and Kolenovic trained together and worked in each other’s corners in the ring.
Kolenovic, 28, held the New York State welterweight boxing title and had a record of 10 wins, five by knockout, six losses and two draws before he moved up in weight class.
In his last fight, two weeks before his killing, Kolenovic scored a first-round knockout over Ronnie Glover at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, Long Island.
“The last two fights he worked in my corner, I worked in his corner,” Muriqi recalled. “He called me that night (he was killed), he goes, ‘Yo, are we going out tonight? Let’s go out tonight.’”
Muriqi wound up not joining Kolenovic, who went to Moonlight, a now-shuttered bar on on Belmont Ave. near 186th St., that fateful night.
“During the time I was out I didn’t see my phone. It was ringing,” Muriqi siad. “I had 60 missed calls. Then I called (a friend). I said ‘What’s up? He said, ‘Yo, Kemal’s dead.’ I’m like, ‘What do you mean, Kemal’s dead?’”
Kolenovic joined his uncle at the bar and several men discussing their Albania hometowns started arguing and shoving each other, the uncle told the Daily News shortly after the killing.
Kolenovic, who was of Albanian heritage but emigrated from Montenegro, played the peacemaker, trying to calm the argument by ordering the group a round of drinks.
“My nephew wanted to buy them a drink to keep them from fighting,” the uncle, Tony Mujovit, said at the time. “He was never part of the fight. He got killed for nothing.”
The killer stormed off after the fight spilled outside, then returned behind the wheel of a dark-colored SUV, running down Kolenovic on the sidewalk as his back was turned, Mujovit said.
“There was no fight anymore. They were just discussing what happened. The whole fight was with Ahmet and the people that he knew,” Muriqi said. “Kemal was known as a boxer but Kemal didn’t know everybody there.”
Gashi is slated to be arraigned in Bronx Supreme Court Monday.
“Being Kemal’s best friend, so many things go through my mind through the years,” Muriqi said. “Somebody doing that does not deserve to live a free life… Taking somebody’s life that didn’t have nothing to do with it? Yes, justice should be served.”