TAFT, Calif. -- Taft police officers arrested a suspect Wednesday in connection with the fatal hit-and-run that killed a 14-year-old girl.

Glenn Russell, 46, was found fixing the car he used in the hit-and-run crash that killed Michelle Ramirez, a freshman at Taft High School, officers said.

Ramirez was crossing Kern Street at 2nd Street just before 6 p.m. Tuesday when she was hit by a white Jeep Cherokee.

A Kern County Sheriff's deputy located the vehicle on the 100 block of Madison Street in Ford City around 11 this morning, and saw that Russell was trying to repair the damage from the collision, according to Taft police Sgt. Mike Eveland.

"We pretty much had every law enforcement officer in the area looking for vehicles matching that description," Eveland said.

Officers were concerned that the suspect had left the area, but the car was found less than a mile from the scene of the accident.

"Fortunately for us he stayed in the area and hid," Eveland said. "Our local deputies and police officers kept pounding the pavement until they found him."

In the meantime, family and friends are mourning Ramirez's death, and spent Wednesday washing cars to raise money for funeral expenses. A makeshift memorial is now set at the scene of the accident.

"She was a really bright, brilliant girl," Carmen Rosales, a family friend, said. "She always had a big smile, and she got along with everybody."

Friends have held candlelight vigils at the crash scene for the past two nights. A moment of silence will be held at Taft High School Thursday morning before the start of classes.

Russell plead no contest to driving under the influence in 2007, serving six days of a nine-month jail sentence. He was booked into jail Wednesday night on suspicion of felony hit-and-run.