SOCA Warriors striker Real Gill, who grew up at Harpe Place, Port of Spain, is saddened over what happened in his community last Saturday where five people were murdered.
Speaking in a Trinidad and Tobago Football Association video, Gill said, "To be honest I can't say what went on, but it's heartbreaking because I am always outside with those same people...even though they say it's a bad community...they always try to push me to be out here."
Gill is in Frisco, Texas with the Soca Warriors as they prepare to play Canada in a Copa America qualifying match on March 23.
"When I heard the news we were now going training...it real hurt."
Gill said he knew one of the victims well. "It had one who was begging me to leave Trinidad and I was telling him it's not my fault I have not left yet, it is through visa problems, the business. To see that I lose him it real bother me...I could use it as a positive way and say I have someone to make it for now."
Gill, 21, encouraged other young men to find something they enjoy doing and follow their dreams. "I want to tell all my other brothers that it have things outside for us to make it in this life that we don't have to be home. I not saying it in a way that the Harpe is a bad place, it is a real good place too because I miss home. It is plenty fun I have with my friends."
Gill, who was signed by United Soccer League's Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC earlier this year, said there is a lot of "talent" in the Harpe.