What happened to Mama Tot’s son?

In 2022, tragedy struck famous TikToker Ophelia Nichols — better known to her millions of followers as Mama Tot — and her family when Nichols’ son, Randon Lee, was shot and killed in Prichard, Alabama, just one day before his 19th birthday.

In the aftermath of her son’s murder, Nichols, who offers motherly advice to her TikTok followers through her @shoelover99 account, said on TikTok, “Someone knows who did this to my child, and I’m asking for somebody’s help. Anybody’s help. This is my son. Please.” After that plea, #JusticeForRandon trended on the platform, and millions donated money, raising tens of thousands of dollars for Lee’s funeral arrangements.

Mama Tot’s son was dealing marijuana

About a month after Randon Lee was killed, in August 2022, AL.com reported a suspect was in custody. Reuben Thomas Gulley Jr. reportedly met Lee at a gas station to buy marijuana and shot him. Lee survived long enough to flee to another gas station, where he died. Authorities believed Gulley Jr.. who was 20 at the time, and Lee knew one another, and that Lee had sold Gulley Jr. marijuana in the past. What motivated the attack is unclear.

“The suspect in the black vehicle got inside the victim’s vehicle. We know that there was one shot. The suspect got out of the victim’s vehicle with a handgun, and got back in his vehicle and took off,” Detective Jason Hadaway said at a press conference, describing the scene of Lee’s murder.

Not long after her son died, Ophelia “Mama Tot” Nichols told her Facebook followers, “Please don’t think badly of my son for the circumstances of how he was taken. We are not ashamed of him, and never will be. When I was 18, I made poor choices myself. I think of the person who did this to my son and have empathy for his family once they find out.”

Randon Lee lived with depression after his father died

Amid her son’s murder investigation, Mama Tot shared that Randon Lee lived with depression after his father died, but that his family had been optimistic that his life was back on track. “Through this process we’ve found out a lot of stuff … a lot of stuff we just didn’t know. When your children live out on their own and pay their own bills and they have a good job … it just don’t cross your mind that they would be doing anything to get themselves into trouble,” Nichols said on TikTok, according to People.