Ophelia Nichols and her son, Randon Lee.Photo: Ophelia Nichols/Facebook
TikTok star Ophelia Nichols says she is “grateful, but not happy” after an arrest was made in her son’s murder.
Now, Nichols — known on TikTok as @shoelover99 and Mama Tot — is speaking out.
“I’m getting a hundred messages saying, ‘You must be so happy right now,’ and I am not. I am not happy,” Nicholssaidin a TikTok video posted Friday.
“I bet he was,” Nichols said of Gulley. “That just made me think, within 11 seconds, he made the decision to just throw his life away.”
The “one thing” her son and Gulley share, Nichols said, is that they “both have a mother that would do absolutely anything for them. I’m sure they had that in common.”
“So remember this, there’s now two families that are hurting, there’s two of us. And those parents shouldn’t suffer for something that their child did, just as well as I shouldn’t suffer for anything that my children have done,” Nichols said.
“I don’t wish that on anybody. That was really hard for me. Neither one of our children should’ve been there that night. Neither one of them,” she said.
After a brief pause, Nichols said that while it’s difficult to think about what could have been, “I know it’s going to be a long road to justice. I hope it’s done right, as it should.”
She reminded her supporters, “There are two families hurt, not just me. There’s also a lot of other families in that town that never got justice that should.”
“Grateful, but not happy,” she wrote over the video.
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In the comment section, one fan asked Nichols if she would be willing to talk to Gulley or his mother.
“Of course I would,” she responded.
According to Prichard police, Lee met up with two individuals at a gas station to sell them marijuana the night he was killed.
Gulley was denied bond, WALA reported.
It was unclear Friday if he entered a plea to the charge or retained an attorney to comment on his behalf.
source: people.com
