Astrid Stawiarz/Getty ImagesFantasia Barrino's heart is heavy this week.
The Grammy winner's 18-year-old nephew, Tyquan Vonricco Washington, was fatally shot on Wednesday in Greensboro, N.C. The Greensboro Police Department confirmed the sad news and announced the arrest of suspect David Lee White, Jr., 21, who was charged with first-degree murder and currently remains in jail without bond. According to the police, a preliminary investigation indicated there was was a dispute before the shooting, but the nature of the dispute is currently unclear.
"Ty Auntie is So Sorry Baby," Barrino wrote on social media in commemoration of her late nephew. "RIP to my Oldest Nephew Please Pray for his Mother and my Brother @riccobarrino & his Stepdad."
The songstress' brother Ricco Barrino, also a singer, mourned the loss of his son by sharing a love letter he penned to Washington. "I needed to write this sooner but it's funny how life make you aware of your own unconscious procrastinations. I wanted you to know that from the depths of my heart your daddy loves you and he always has. I remember holding you for the first time that's when I knew that I had to do something other than work in somebody's factory so that one day you could look up to me. As I write this letter with tears streaming down my face I want you to know that I showed you tough love because I knew you were something special," he wrote on social media, recalling his early gymnastics talent, the day he was born and his most recent birthday.
"I'll never forget that birthday I was smiling from ear to ear telling everybody in the studio that my son is finally becoming a man," Ricco recalled.
"I wanted to be there every day for you and there wasn't a day that went by I didn't wonder where you were," he concluded. "Well on this day you became a bigger man when you put on a pair of wings and did what I have yet to do. So you show me your leadership skills. you go join hands with your grandma and kiss for me. You sing loud for me up there. Love dad."