A Michigan man known on social media for exposing sexual predators — which even led to some arrests — was killed on Friday night, officials said.
Robert Wayne Lee, 40, approached two teens seated inside a restaurant in Pontiac, about 30 miles from Detroit, around 10:30 p.m., local news reported. He accused one of them of being a pedophile and punched him during the confrontation.
This led the teenager Lee hit to pull out a knife while the second one shot him multiple times, according to the report citing police, later resulting in his death at a local hospital.
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The two individuals, identified as 17 and 18 years old, left the scene but were taken into custody on Saturday, per WXYZ. The duo’s identities have not been made public, and their charges haven’t been announced yet.
“While we certainly understand his desire to hold child predators accountable, many well-intentioned individuals who engaged in this don’t know the standard of evidence required for convictions and often underestimate the potential for violence confronting a suspected predator,” Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said, the outlet reported.
“They feel trapped and often lash out violently. When we have arrested predators in such circumstances, they have rammed police cars and exhibited other violent behavior in attempts to escape,” the statement continued.
Lee, also dubbed “Boopac Shakur,” utilized his online presence to confront suspected child predators. Authorities said he posed as a 15-year-old on the internet, and his actions have “led to the arrest and criminal charges being filed against several men,” Click on Detroit reported. However, the outlet noted that he mistakenly labeled someone as a predator during his missions.
In a GoFundMe created to raise money for his funeral and daughter, Lee was recognized as “a defender of the innocent,” whose work helped expose “132 predators who sought to harm our community’s youth.” It has raised nearly $8,000 as of Monday.
A man, 28-year-old Cody Larson, who was present during one of Lee’s confrontations earlier this year, told The Associated Press that he wants to continue his work: “I really liked everything that he had done.”
