Tyson Gay took to Instagram Saturday to thank people for the outpouring of support towards his family after his teenage daughter was fatally shot last week.
“I just want to thanks everybody for all their support,” he said, acknowledging that they’d received condolences from all over the world. “Hopefully we can come together and stop the violence.”
His message came the same day as Trinity’s funeral at the Southland Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky.
The 15 year old was shot and killed while out with friends at Lexington’s Cook Out restaurant last Sunday morning. A shooting erupted around 4 a.m. in the restaurant’s parking lot and she was hit by a stray bullet. Trinity was struck in the neck and died later at the University of Kentucky Medical Center.
Since then, four men have been arrested in relation to the shooting.
In a statement, Gay said he looked forward to mentoring community youth moving forward:
“Last Sunday morning, I was awakened by the worst news a parent can hear,” Gay said. “The death of my daughter as an innocent bystander is devastating, but I am determined that it not be senseless. We must come together as a community to protect each other, giving our young people the tools they need to resolve their conflicts and lead successful lives–the kind that Trinity was well on her way to living. In that spirit—and to follow in the footsteps of those who kept me on the right path as a teenager when I easily could have gone the other way—in the coming weeks we will be exploring ways to help mentor and support the youth of Lexington over the long term, so that the spirit of Trinity will sprint on long after we say goodbye to her this weekend.”