Daughter of US Olympic sprinter Tyson Gay was killed on Sunday in a shooting at a restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.
Trinity Gay, 15, – herself a rising track athlete – was shot in the neck about 4am (0800 GMT), police said, according to the Lexington Herald Leader.
She died in hospital within an hour of being transported. Witnesses said Gay was hit during an exchange of gunfire between two cars, according to police. Two people in one of the cars have been detained for questioning. Another report says three men have already been charged in connection with the shooting.
Tyson Gay, who holds the US record in the 100m, told local television station WLEX, “She didn’t make it. I’m so confused. She was just here last week for fall break. It’s so crazy. I have no idea what happened.”
Trinity Gay was a top high school sprinter who dreamed of competing in the Olympics and becoming a surgeon, according to her mother, Shoshana Boyd. Trinity Gay was a sprinter at Lafayette High in Lexington and finished fourth in the 100 meters. She also ran on a 4×200 relay team that finished fourth.
“She was so innocent. She was so innocent,” Boyd told the New York Daily News.
“I just want people to stop shooting and realise who they’re hurting. It’s just random. They don’t understand. They don’t understand who they’re hurting.”
Gay competed in the 2016 Olympics on the 4×100-metre relay team but didn’t win a medal.
Her father also ran at Lafayette and still holds the state record in the 100 set in 2001.
Our thoughts are with Tyson Gay’s family.
