DJ COMMUNITY

Friend: Megatron On Phone, About To Buy Weed When Line Went Dead

*A friend of slain radio and TV personality DJ Megatron told investigators Monday the two were talking on the phone as the deejay went out to buy marijuana when the line went dead, likely because he’d been shot.

According to the AP, the friend was on the phone with Megatron, whose real name is Corey McGriff, at around 2 a.m. Sunday when the line suddenly went dead, police said. McGriff was later found shot once in the chest. Police said he had been walking to a store near his home on New York’s Staten Island.

Police were looking at whether drugs may have played a role in his death. He had a few previous minor arrests for possession of marijuana, but no serious crimes. Police said Monday they do not believe it was a robbery. No arrests have been made.

His manager, Justin Kirkland, known as J. Smoove, said friends and family had no idea why anyone might have attacked the deejay known for his upbeat attitude.

DJ Megatron worked on BET’s “106 & Park” music countdown series, mainly in a role interacting with its live audience, the Viacom Inc.-owned network said. But he also did some on-camera work for the show and BET’s website, including “What’s Good.”

The network expressed its condolences to his family and friends.

Rising to the on-air ranks after starting as an intern, DJ Megatron began his career at New York’s WKRS-FM, better known as Kiss FM, where deejays remembered him on the air and online Sunday. He also worked at what was then Boston’s Hot 97.7, or WBOT-FM, and at Philadelphia’s The Beat, or WPHI-FM, according to a bio on his MySpace site.

He was a father of three and also devoted time to charitable events on Staten Island, his manager said.