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.”