He Killed a Reggae Star’s Daughter Feet Away from Her Child. Then Came the Judge’s Haunting Words

A New York man convicted of killing the mother of his son in front of their child when he was just 18 months old has learned his fate.

On Thursday, June 5, Derrick Francis, 43, was sentenced to 55 years in prison for the murder of Brianna McKoy, 23, in Bridgeport, Conn., on April 6, 2023, online court records show.

On April 25, a three-judge panel of the Connecticut Superior Court convicted Francis of the shooting death of McKoy in the apartment they shared in the city’s North End, said Joseph Corradino, the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Bridgeport, in a release.

“In coming to their verdict, the judges found that Francis had failed to prove his affirmative defense of extreme emotional disturbance,” the State’s Attorney said in the release.

McKoy was the daughter of Jamaican reggae star Ricky Trooper, who has written about his daughter’s murder on Instagram.

“Hate the 6th of April,” he wrote on April 5. “That day the fassy took my baby away from us.2 years now and the pain only get worst (sic).”

McKoy’s family has been seeking justice for her since the fatal shooting.

“Today we finally got that justice and it’s been a long time coming,” her mother, Camille Hemmings, told News 12.

On the day McKoy was killed, she and Francis were arguing at their apartment when he shot her four times with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun, police said, News 12 reports. 

During closing arguments in Francis’s trial, defense attorney Gerald Klein said Francis had “reached a breaking point” during his relationship with McKoy and called the homicide “a crime of passion,” the CT Post reports.

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Corradino argued that Francis had initially said in one of his police interviews that he had to wrest the gun from McKoy, the CT Post reports.

Later on, Francis said he found the gun in a drawer while looking for money he thought McKoy had allegedly taken, Corradino argued, according to the CT Post.

Their son Zander was only “a few feet away” when Francis fired the gun at McKoy, police said, according to News 12.

“Baby Zander has not spoken a single word since that day,” Hemmings told News 12. “He goes to therapy on a regular basis now to restore his speech.”

After the shooting, Francis fled the scene, setting off a national manhunt, according to the State’s Attorney.

Francis fled to Ohio, but was apprehended two days later when officers stopped a car he was riding in because they had an arrest warrant for the driver, the State’s Attorney said.

Francis ran from the officers during the traffic stop, but was captured after a short chase. 

Ohio officers recovered a gun under the vehicle’s passenger seat that the Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory determined was consistent with having fired the cartridge cases recovered from the crime scene, according to the State’s Attorney.

In a GoFundMe set up for Zander, the organizer wrote, “Camille Prince’s daughter lost her life due to domestic violence.”

Hemmings told News 12 nothing can take away the pain of losing her daughter, but she is glad that her killer will serve out the next five decades behind bars.

“He finally got what he deserved — 55 years. He will hopefully die in prison a lonely and miserable death,” Hemmings told News 12.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.