By Christina Santucci
Instead of finishing up their wedding plans, Vanessa McKinley had to organize a funeral for her fiancé after he was fatally shot inside a Springfield Gardens lounge over the weekend.
“Never in a million years did I think I would be burying him and we would be leaving each other this way,” McKinley said of 35-year-old Timothy Tripp.
Tripp, a doting South Jamaica dad, was slain in an early morning shooting Saturday at Edge Bar and Lounge, at 125-22 Merrick Blvd., police and relatives said.
McKinley said a memorial service for Tripp would be held Thursday from 5-7 p.m. at Maranatha Baptist Church, at 112-42 Springfield Blvd., followed by a funeral at 7 p.m. at the same location.
On Father’s Day, loved ones gathered at the place where he died to light candles and release balloons in Tripp’s memory.
“He was very big on Father’s Day because he was a father not only one day but he was a father every day,” McKinley said of Tripp and his 11-year-old daughter, Tameia.
Authorities said they responded to the shooting just after 2:30 a.m. Saturday, and Tripp, who had been shot in the head and torso, was pronounced dead at the scene.
“He just went out to have a drink,” McKinley, 41, said, explaining that Tripp had headed out around 11:30 p.m. and asked her to set aside his dinner for when he got home.
“He said, ‘Babe, I’ll be back. I’m going to come back and eat my food.’ And he never came back,” she said.
Early Saturday McKinley said she received a call informing her that there had been an altercation in the nightclub and her fiancé had been wounded. When she went over to the lounge, Tripp’s body was inside as police performed their investigation.
A spokesman for the NYPD said Wednesday they had arrested James Walker, a 31-year-old St. Albans man, and charged him with carrying a loaded 40-caliber Sig Sauer handgun, but authorities believed the shooter was still on the loose.
McKinley said she was hopeful that Tripp’s killer would be caught.
“They took away my friend, my heart, my partner,” she said, breaking down into tears.
Tripp had opened The Men’s Room, a clothing shop on Baisley Boulevard, with McKinley about three years ago and worked as a foreman with ironworkers through Local 46. He also volunteered as a football coach at Jamaica High School and with the Jamaica Bulldogs youth football league, loved ones said.
McKinley said she and Tripp started dating about eight years ago and were hoping to wed in 2015.
“We were still trying to figure out a date for next year,” she said.
Tripp’s father, Thomas Tripp, described his son as a good guy and a family man.
“I cant understand what happened. I can’t understand why someone killed my son,” Thomas Tripp said.
And McKinley said her fiancé acted as a parent to both his daughter and her 21-year-old son.
“He was a great father. He loved his daughter to death,” McKinley said.
On Saturday afternoon, Tripp had planned to attend his daughter Tameia’s annual dance recital, and she only found out afterward that her father had been killed.
“She went to her recital. She had a great performance. She didn’t know anything, but she got a little sad because she didn’t hear his voice cheering,” McKinley said. “She didn’t find out until later on that evening that her father was not coming back because he was shot.”
Reach managing editor Christina Santucci by e-mail at timesledgerphotos@gmail.com by phone at 718-260-4589.
