Merrick McKoy gunned down his 19-month-old daughter, Mia McKoy-Phanthavongsa, in an attempted murder-suicide in the Westminster area, a northern suburb of Denver, according to media reports.
McKoy and his ex-girlfriend had an extremely contentious relationship before this episode exploded. He had just posted about his motives and intentions just moments before killing his daughter.
McKoy, 22, allegedly shot his daughter in the head and killed her. He posted a photo of the two together and wrote several social media missives explaining his motive.
“I told u I can’t live without u lol u thought I was joking now me n Mia out this b—-,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
Mia’s mother, Kimphone ‘Kim’ Phanthavongsa, 21, learned of McKoy’s intent and immediately called police to alert them that her ex-boyfriend was inside her apartment with their child and had a handgun. The two had a heated argument and she stormed out on Monday.
Cops did not make it in time, arriving to the sound of gunshots, the media reports. McKoy shot the girl in the head and then turned the gun on himself. The father is now in critical condition, the New York Daily News states.
The little girl’s mother, Kimphone “Kim” Phanthavongsa, 21 had an active restraining order against McKoy following domestic violence incident. McKoy had been charged with assault, burglary, trespassing and harrassment, ABC7 Denver reports.
The Monday shooting was McKoy’s only way out, he reasoned in his final Facebook post.
“Don’t judge me had no choice,” he wrote.
Family members had said McKoy was possessive, had a criminal record, was unstable and was prone to flying off off in jealous rages. 
“He was the type to say, if you’re not with me, you can’t be with anybody else,” said Smaly Chham, the girl’s cousin.
Little Mia had just taken her first steps, testified friends who knew the little girl.
A woman identifying herself as McKoy’s sister posted her reaction to the shooting of her niece on Facebook.
“She just learned how to walk,” Vannatda Sivixai ABC7 Denter. “What an angel. Whenever she smiled it was bright.”
