TikTok star Ophelia Nichols says she’s feeling “grateful, but not happy” that a suspect has been arrested in connection with her late son’s murder.
Randon Lee was shot dead at a gas station in Prichard, Ala. last June, one day before his 19th birthday. On Aug. 18, the suspect, Reuben Gulley, 20, was arrested and jailed on a murder charge, Mobile County Sheriff’s records show. According local Fox affiliate WALA-TV, he surrendered himself to police. A Mobile County District Attorney’s office spokesperson told E! News the suspect is being held with no bond because he was on bond for drug cases at the time of the offense He has not retained an attorney and his arraignment is set for Aug. 23.
In an Aug. 19 TikTok video, Lee’s mom said, “I’m getting 100 messages saying, ‘You must be so happy right now.’ And I am not. I am not happy.”
She captioned her clip, “Grateful, but not happy.”
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Ophelia said that when she saw the suspect’s mug shot, she thought to herself, “My goodness. He’s just a baby.” She added, “That just made me think, within 11 seconds, he made a decision to just throw his life away. And there’s one thing that he and my baby child had in common, and that was that they both have a mother that would do absolutely everything for them. I’m sure they have that in common.”
According to WALA, investigators said Ophelia’s son was shot after he met up with two people to sell them marijuana. The outlet aired what it said is surveillance video taken at the gas station.
It shows a person in a red hoodie exiting a car parked at a gas pump and walking over to a nearby silver sedan parked on the opposite side and getting into the backseat. Several seconds later, the person exits while carrying what appears to be a gun, as the silver sedan drives off. The person then gets into the front passenger seat of the first car, which also leaves.
WALA said Lee was shot in the back and drove across the street to another gas station. The outlet quoted investigators as saying that there, he crashed and died of his injuries.
“I know it’s going to be a long road to justice,” Ophelia said, “and I hope it’s done right, as it should.”
The TikToker, also a mom to three older children, expressed empathy for the suspect’s loved ones. “There’s now two families that are hurting,” she said. “And those parents shouldn’t suffer for something that their child did, just as well that I shouldn’t suffer for anything that my children have done.”
Ophelia also talked about being hurt by remarks made by members of her community about her son following the shooting. “The people in my town, that I grew up with, I shop at the same stores that they do—made such terrible comments about my baby child. I thought, ‘Why? You don’t even know him.’ Then I thought, ‘Lord I hope you don’t go through that because I don’t wish that on anybody.’ That was really hard for me.”
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