Updated on 10/7/23 at 3:07 p.m:
Authorities have confirmed that the fatal shooting of Boopac Shakur wasn’t related to a confrontation of someone he had accused of being a pedophile. Shakur, born Robert Wayne Lee, 40, was shot and killed on September 29.
In a written statement, Sheriff Michael Bouchard explained: “When we originally responded to the call, the community inferred he could have been there for that reason, to confront a pedophile. As we get deeper in the investigation, we have yet to find any corroborative information on that point.”
“There is no evidence that the confrontation on September 29th was a planned meeting, or that it was part of any sting operation,” the statement said.
Original Post:
Have y’all heard of Boopac Shakur? It’s okay if you haven’t. He wasn’t an upcoming rapper or producer. He wasn’t even a comedian pretending to be the real Tupac. He was a social media personality who prided himself on exposing alleged pedophiles and child predators on the internet.
He would often pose as an innocent teenage girl to trick suspected predators into the open, and then have them arrested. He would record every one of his encounters and post them to his social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook.
Based on his following on both accounts, it was clear that thousands of people supported what he was doing.
But over the weekend, his exploits came to an unfortunate end. On Friday night, Boopac, who was born Robert Wayne Lee, was fatally shot after confronting two teenagers at a restaurant in Pontiac, Mich. He was 40 years old.
According to CNN, Lee confronted the two teenagers, one was 17 and the other was 18, because he suspected one of them to be a pedophile. After punching who he thought was an alleged child predator, according to reports, one of the teens pulled out a knife, and the other pulled out a firearm and shot Boopac multiple times.
He was later taken to the hospital and declared dead.
Although both suspects fled the scene on Friday, they were arrested Saturday by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
While Lee’s dangerous hobby was appreciated by many on social media, it was not commended by local authorities. In a press release, Sheriff Michael Bouchard said, “While we certainly understand his desire to hold child predators accountable, many times 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.”
The names of the suspects in the shooting have not been released and the charges they face will be decided by the Oakland County prosecutor’s office, according to CNN.