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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Man Beaten to Death in LIC Was Runner, Chef and Father

 A crowd gathered Monday near where Jose Antonio Cocuyo-Malaga was killed, holding candles and a sign.
Jose Antonio Cocuyo-Malaga Vigil
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HUNTERS POINT — A crowd gathered Monday night on the Long Island City corner where a man was beaten to death Friday, remembering the victim as a father, athlete and talented chef.

Mourners stood at Vernon Boulevard and 50th Avenue, where a photo of Jose Antonio Cocuyo-Malaga was propped before a vase of flowers. Some people held candles against a cold wind, while one held up a poster reading "Justice for Jose Malaga."

"He was a good, good person," said Victor Bermeo, who said he knew Cocuyo-Malaga, a runner, for four years through a running club.

Police said Cocuyo-Malaga, 32, was beaten to death Friday outside of a bodega after an argument with two men in a livery cab, just a short walk from the local police station.

A man from Long Island, 29-year-old Kaheem Addison, turned himself in Saturday and was arrested for manslaughter in the case, according to the NYPD.

Bermeo was a runner, chef, and father to a young daughter, according to Bermeo. Spanish-language newspaper El Diario reported that he was also a sculptor who made creations out of fruit.

Bermeo said they want to make sure the police do a thorough investigation into what happened the night his friend died.

"He [was] not a troublemaker," he said of Cocuyo-Malaga.

A criminal complaint says that Addison, the suspect in custody, allegedly punched Cocuyo-Malaga "multiple times in the head" as he was laying on the ground, and also kicked him.

Addison faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted, according to the Queens District Attorney's Office. His defense attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday.