(MCT) — A Little Village man told police he knew he hit something with his van the night he struck and killed a Cook County correctional officer who was walking to work, then drove away, a prosecutor said in court Saturday.

When Juan Bello walked into the courtroom for the hearing, dozens of Nikkii Bostic-Jones' colleagues, many of them crowded onto benches in the gallery, quietly rose to their feet. The 38-year-old correctional officer was reporting for her night shift at the jail when she was killed Wednesday.