Authorities say that an online feud between two content creators escalated to a deadly shooting on the Las Vegas Strip, where one of the internet personalities and his wife were fatally shot.
Police identified both victims as Rodney Finley, 44, who also goes by his YouTube moniker “Finny Da Legend,” and Tanisha Finley, 43, who was called “Bubbly.”
Finley was on livestream on Sunday, June 8, near the Bellagio Resort when he and his wife were shot. Authorities say 41-year-old Manuel Ruiz, the YouTuber who goes by Sin City Manny, pulled the trigger and shot the couple in the head.
“It was childish, it was crazy. It didn’t make any sense,” Marquise Wiley, a YouTuber who goes by the Wiley Show, told KLAS. “It was all about who was the biggest Las Vegas YouTube content creator.”
A content creator familiar with the dispute between the YouTubers told police that he watched Finley’s livestream, including the moments when the shooting happened.
That person said he saw “Manny pull a gun from his front waistband and point it towards where he believed Finny [Finley] was standing … saw the muzzle flash on video and heard five to six gunshots.”
He added that he saw Finley’s wife grab the gimbal holding the phone during the livestream, and two more shots sounded off. Then, he said the camera fell to the ground.
A video shared to X, formerly Twitter, shows Finley’s wife warning Ruiz. “Don’t you bring your a– over her. Starting no sh-t.” Moments later, Ruiz is seen firing the gun, bystanders ducking and Tanisha Finley screaming.
Investigators learned that after the shooting, Ruiz fled, ditched his shirt and hat, then called a rideshare to take him across the country to New York City. There, he visited the home of a friend who advised him to turn himself in.
During his first court appearance, Ruiz told the court that Finley’s wife was “dancing in his face.” Then, he said he saw Finley reach for his waistband and ask, “What’s up cuz?” aggressively. Ruiz said he thought Finley was reaching for a firearm, so he opened fire in self-defense.
He said he initially aimed at Finley’s torso, but when Finley moved, he aimed higher. Ruiz said he shot Finley’s wife after he saw a “shiny black object” he believed to be a gun.
Investigators say Ruiz deleted his YouTube page after the shooting, but in the time before his videos were scrubbed, content creators got hold of Ruiz’s videos.
YouTube Page LFP Gaming shared one of those clips in which Ruiz is seen driving a car and saying, “Catch you at a red light Finny. Boom Boom Boom.”
Finny Da Legend’s page and stream recordings are still online.
Authorities learned that the dispute between Finley and Ruiz started in 2023.
Derek Ware, a friend of Finley’s, said Ruiz pepper-sprayed Finley’s wife that year. So Finley began going after Ruiz online and hosting livestreams in which viewers could share their opinions about Vegas-based YouTubers like Ruiz. Finley would also record himself watching Ruiz’s streams and making fun of his content.
“Manny was welcome to come on and defend himself. He kept it fair. It wasn’t just a bash. It wasn’t just, ‘let’s talk about Manny, talk bad about Manny.’ It’s just everybody’s experiences,” Ware told KVVU.
Ware said that Finley’s online popularity grew, while Ruiz’s suffered, but he never thought the dispute would reach such a violent end.
“That’s just sickening. That’s just sick,” Ware said. “What do you get out of that? I don’t get that. You just ruined two families.”
Danny Gutierrez, a fan who followed Finley and Ruiz closely on YouTube, learned that Ruiz was trying to dominate streaming in the Vegas area at a time before his YouTube channel began suffering.
“He is demanding, like, you can’t go here. You can’t do that,” Gutierrez told KSNV. “And a lot of people don’t like that, so he started losing his streamers.”
Gutierrez also watched the feud unfold between the YouTubers and said it worsened over time after Finley insulted Ruiz’s wife and Ruiz began using racial slurs.
“The followers that were normally with Manny are now giving money to Finny. That made it worse, yeah, for Manny,” Gutierrez said, adding that Finley would regularly point out how many followers Ruiz lost over time.
“And then Finny would post look at how many streamers – how many viewers he’s going got now, or his viewership was going down,” he said.
Finley reportedly had about 6,000 followers on YouTube.
Ruiz was charged with two counts of murder and was denied bail.
