by Leila Molana-Allen
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
STATEN ISLAND — Popular Hot 97 radio personality DJ Megatron was found shot dead a block away from his Staten Island home early Sunday Morning, according to several reports.
DJ Megatron, born Corey McGriff, was found dead on Osgood Avenue in Clifton after being shot at about 2 a.m. Sunday morning, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Authorities pronounced the 32-year old McGriff at the scene. He died from a single bullet wound to the chest, police told the Journal.
McGriff was a disc jockey at Hot 97 and also hosted the music TV show "106 and Park" that aired on BET.
High School friend Mex Guevara, 33, said McGriff was on the rise to star status, according to a Daily News report.
"He always wanted to do radio and acting," Guevara told the paper. "He was definitely a dream-chaser."
McGriff, who learned his radio skills from on-air star Fatman Scoop at Hot 97, had also appeared in minor acting roles including hip-hop movies "State Property 2" and "Killa Season." Friends told the News he had also lately started training at CBS before his death.
"He was one of the people whose lives I influenced, and to see this happen is very hurtful," Fatman Scoop, who's real name is Isaac Freeman, told the News. "I want to know why? And who did it? And for what?"
McGriff had run-ins with the law in the past and was arrested on multiple occasions. He was arrested for the sale and possession of marijuana, and was given probation after a 2007 gun bust in New Jersey, the New York Post reported.
However, friends said McGriff did not have any enemies.
"My heart stopped. I couldn’t believe it," fellow Hot 97 DJ Jazzy Joyce told the News.
"It looks like he was just walking alone and became a victim," a police source told AM New York. Witnesses told cops they had seen at least four young men running away from the scene after the incident, the Post reported.
Police are investigatinog and are asking the public for help in the search for McGriff’s killer.
McGriff is survived by his mother, Louvenia McGriff, and his three children, Zaharia, 11, Zion, 4, and Isiah, 9 months.
