The Alabama TikToker, Ophelia Nichols, whose son Randon Lee was killed in June, has shared her thoughts on the recent arrest made for her son’s murder.
The TikTok personality took to the social media platform to open up about the comments she has received since her son’s death…
And she is not pleased.
Scroll down to find out more…
With tears in her eyes, the mom held up a picture of her son on her TikTok channel, she said: “My son was murdered, he was shot…
“I have this hatred in my heart that I don’t recognize because I’ve never felt hate for anybody.
“I know they’re out there in my town, they’re out there living and breathing when my son’s dead,” she said.
“He was just 18 years old. That’s the best part of somebody’s life, and I know they’re out there in my town.”
Her son was due to celebrate his nineteenth birthday the day after he was killed.
She continued: “Somebody knows who did this to my child and I’m asking for somebody’s help, anybody’s help.”
Addressing the killer in the caption of her video, she wrote: “You will be found! You will reap what you sow in this world.”
She added: “You may not be caught now but it’s coming. I hope you see my son’s face every day of your life.”
Many fans took to her comments section to share their condolences with the distraught mom.
One TikTok user wrote: “My heart is so broken watching this, I am seriously so so sorry mamatot. I pray they find who did this I am so deeply sorry. I will be praying.”
A second commented: “Mama. My entire heart just shattered for you. I’d come sit and let you cry as long as you needed. I wish I could help.”
“No mother should have to go through this! I’m so sorry my heart hurts for you! Your tots are here for you,” a third echoed.
Another added: “No one should ever feel this pain. You have a community here that is sending so much love and prayers to you and your family. My goodness… I’m so sorry.”
According to Ophelia Nichols, her son, Random Lee, was “shot at an Exonn petrol station at 7:45 pm in Pritchard Alabama” on June 24.
She then shared that he allegedly managed to drive to another petrol station despite his injuries.
However, he sadly died not long after.
Nichols also revealed in the comments section that she’d “just been told ‘we have a lead on 2 individuals'” in the case.
She later added: “I hope they see this video and know what they have done to my family.”
You can watch her heartbreaking TikTok here.
On Thursday, 20-year-old Reuben Gulley turned himself in to the authorities on a murder charge after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
It’s unclear as of now whether authorities suspect Gulley of shooting Lee or driving the getaway car.
According to Fox 10, Gulley was denied bond during a hearing on Friday.
He is currently being held at the Mobile County Metro Jail.
On Friday, Nichols took to social media to share her thoughts on the recent arrest of her son’s killer.
She shared videos reacting to both Gulley’s arrest and other TikTok stars who rushed up on their own videos about the update before she made a public comment about the matter.
In her first video, she said: “I would have loved to get on here last night and say, ‘Guess what?’ but unfortunately, the news and other people didn’t allow that.”
Nichols added: “I’m getting 100 messages saying you must be so happy right now and I am not. I am not happy. When situations like this happen or other traumatic situations, I look at everything, I don’t just look at this and make a decision or an opinion, I look at everything, and when I seen that mugshot last night, I thought to myself, my goodness, he’s just a baby. He’s just a baby.”
“Then I seen comments from his teachers that said, ‘I taught him in high school, and he was a lovely young man.’ I bet he was. I bet he was,” she said.
“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 is that they both had a mother that would do absolutely anything for them. I’m sure they have that in common.
“So remember this, there’s now two families that are hurtin’. Two of us. And those parents shouldn’t suffer something that their child did just as well as I shouldn’t suffer for something my children have done,” she said.
The TikTok star then went on to comment about how other people have hurt her since the death of her son made it to the headlines.
And stated that people made “such terrible comments about my baby child.”
“I thought, ‘Why? You don’t even know him. You don’t even know him.’ And then I thought last night, ‘Lord, I hope [the suspect’s mother] don’t go through that. I don’t wish that on anybody. That was really hard for me. Neither of one of our children should have been there that night, neither one of them,” Nichols said.
While the mom hoped for there to be any justice in her son’s death, she repeated that there are 2 families hurt in this situation…
And further acknowledges the other family in her hometown who never received justice.
Later on that day, the TikToker made a follow-up post about the several comments that were made by other TikTok users.
And she wasn’t very pleased with it.
She claimed that she had known about the arrest warrant that was issued about a week before.
However, what she didn’t know was that Gulley had turned himself in.
“My baby child’s life isn’t a funny gossip story that happened in a funny small town a month ago that we can laugh about it today … this is my child’s life. And my child was murdered,” Nichols said, upset about how others had jumped in to create content around his death.
Our thoughts go out to Ophelia Nichols and her family during this incredibly difficult time.