New York deejay killed at yacht party

Omar Trent, 31, a NY Deejay was killed when violence broke out at a yacht party near the South Street Seaport around 4 a.m. this morning at an overcrowded birthday bash aboard the Atlantica.

"It happened so fast," said Stanley Darius, 28, a deejay at the bash. "It started when a girl was hit in the face with a bottle, and then it turned into a full on brawl."

The nasty fight spilled over to a South Street Seaport parking lot, where Darius' friend, 31-year-old Omar Trent, was shot and killed.

Witnesses and police said Trent was fighting with a man during the chaos aboard the yacht. The unidentified suspect disembarked and apparently went to retrieve a gun from a nearby van.

The shooter caught up with Trent in the parking lot and shot.

"He's the best man ever," Stanley said of his friend. "He don't have it in him to try to hurt anyone. "I've been crying all night and all morning. He can't be replaced," he said.

The party - dubbed "Welcome to the Yacht Club" - was a 30th birthday bash for a local party promoter who goes by the name Pablo Picasso.

Alcohol was flowing freely, witnesses said, and the promoters boasted free massages for the ladies and deejaying from Hot 97's "Mister Cee" radio personality.

When the fighting started, people on the lower deck jumped off the boat to the pier to escape, witnesses said.

"People were screaming, 'Help us, we need to get out of here,'" one of the boat's crew members told the Daily News. "Passengers were desperate to get off of there."

The 145-foot yacht holds 400 people, but about 1,000 showed up for the $50 per person party, witnesses said.

"We did nothing wrong," the boat's co-owner, Mark Phillips, said Saturday. "We promote good times, not killing. We didn't tell anyone to kill someone.

"The reason there was an overflow is because another boat, the Cornucopia Majesty, never showed," he said. "People just kept pouring in. The flow of people just kept coming. As soon as 50 came out, another 50 people would come in. It was like a revolving door."

"When they hit the parking lot, someone saw what happened and started screaming, 'He's got a gun,' and that's when everything went crazy," Phillips said. "I've heard 20 different versions for how this started, and they all start the same, that it was over a woman."

The shooter was seen fleeing the parking lot in a van, but few other details emerged.

"He was a very giving person," said the victim's brother, Damion Trent. "He was always helping people. He wanted people to have a good time." "Our mom is saying she didn't think her son would die before her," he said.

Omar Trent has an extensive rap sheet dating back to 1999, a source said. He has been convicted of criminal sale of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, petty and grand larceny, criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct.

Sabrina Anderson, 30, who grew up with Omar Trent, said, "He brought people together."

"He wasn't a thug on the street. I hope people realize he was a great guy. He really was. This is hard for us all," she said.