Ricky Trooper questions God after 23-y-o daughter killed in US

Popular veteran music selector Ricky Trooper was on Thursday left questioning God’s existence, hours after his daughter was found murdered at her home in Connecticut in the United States.

“Mi used to hear dem thing yah happen to people and mi a say, ‘Yow, wonder why dem things yah happen?’, and mi wish say mi wouldn’t find myself in da position ya, but such is life.

“Dem say mi question the Almighty, ... but sometime you affi wonder if God really deh still ‘cause more time when some something gwaan ... but mi a hold it,” the selector, whose birth name is Garfield McKoy, said in a moving seven-minute live session on his Instagram page on Friday.

The veteran selector’s pain was palpable as he expressed sorrow over his daughter’s murder and the difficulty he is facing dealing with her loss, especially so soon after losing his father.

Ricky Trooper’s eyes appeared red as if he had been crying prior to the live session and at times, his voice was inaudible as he bowed his head in pain while addressing his fans and supporters.

Brianna Destiny McKoy, a 23-year-old mother of a one-year-old boy, was found unresponsive on Thursday around 11:20 a.m. inside her condominium in Bridgeport.

An infant was found unharmed inside the home following the shooting.

Forty-year-old Derrick Francis, whom McKoy was dating, has been named a suspect in the homicide and is being sought by the police.

INCIDENTS AT HOME

Bridgeport Police Capt Kevin Gilleran was quoted in the Connecticut Post saying that prior to the incident, the police were called to respond to incidents at the young woman’s home.

“Mi baby innocent, star. ‘Cause you a talk to a man an’ yuh say you nuh in a nothing with dem and yuh done, and a man a gwaan like say dem own you,” Ricky Trooper said during the live stream.

He shared that he had a very close relationship with his daughter and her sisters and that she had confided in him, revealing details about the troubled relationship.

But, he said, “Mi never know say a man would a go so far.”

The entertainment stalwart said that while he understands the pain of losing a parent tragically, no one should have to go through what he is now experiencing.

“By right, no father and nuh mother nuh supposed to a bury dem pickney. A yuh pickney supposed to bury yuh,” he said while sniffling, adding that he now understands the suffering that singer Thriller U experienced when his daughter Nekitta, 15, was murdered during a robbery in Florida in August 2009.

However, Ricky Trooper said, “Mi a hol’ it. It rough, but mi a hol’ ‘cause mi affi hol’ it.”

According to the selector, who did the live stream while on his way to a dance, playing music has provided him with some amount of solace.

“A did music really and truly a keep mi going. Just a play di music ‘cause a dat mi know fi do and it a hold mi sanity right yah now,” he said, as he struggled to maintain his composure.

Trooper also expressed gratitude and appreciation to all his fans and supporters who have been flooding his phones with messages and calls, while asking fans to understand that he will not be able to respond to all and require privacy at this time.

“Mi know unno a show the love and so, but people, unno affi understand say it hot and mi a go through a trying time,” he said while also thanking artistes in the industry who have reached out to him.

“Mi fans dem, thanks fi di love ‘cause a unno a keep mi going ... ,” he added.

The Bridgeport police, in the meantime, have described the suspect as “armed and dangerous”.

Francis reportedly had an arrest record in New York and is known to frequent the North End of Bridgeport and the Bronx, NY.

The Gleaner’s efforts to contact the Bridgeport police and to get an update on the investigation and the search for the suspect up to late Friday evening proved futile.