BROOKLYN, New York (CMC) – Murdered St Lucian football star Phillip Tisson was fondly remembered by friends, teammates and family at his funeral service here on Thursday night.
Hundreds gathered at the R. Steven Legall Funeral Home on Empire Boulevard in the Lefferts Gardens section of Brooklyn, to honour the 27-year-old, gunned down just hours after scoring a crucial game-winning goal in the semi-final round of the New York Caribbean Cup almost two weeks ago.
“I’m so grateful that so many people came to sympathise,” said Tisson’s father, Phillip Alcee, 61, greeting mourners at a wake that preceded the service.
“Enough is enough. We ought to stand up to see that the violence stops. Our kids are in a casket. A man who was an asset to us is in a casket.”
Tisson was slain just hours after he scored the winning goal which sent St Kitts and Nevis to a 1-0 defeat on August 29. 
Police said the killer approached the star striker, a former member of St Lucia’s 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, as he sat in a car with friends and pumped a single bullet into his head without uttering a word.
Mourners at the funeral service demanded that police move speedily in solving the shocking crime.
The New York City Police Department said it has made “significant progress” in the investigation, but was still seeking assistance from the public.
“We’re not going to allow it to be just another crime that happened,” Tisson’s uncle, Leon Hippolyte told mourners which included St Lucia’s United Nations Ambassador, Dr Donatus St Aimee. “We’re going to stick to it until we get results.”
Family members said they were planning to bury Tisson in St Lucia but were still working out the details.
“The responses have been overwhelming. People have contributed so much,” said Hippolyte.”