YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP (WWJ) - The mother of a man shot and killed while recording a Facebook live video on Tuesday said a social media user allegedly murdered her son over comments he made about a fight.
As reported by WWJ's Jim Matthews, 46-year-old Terrell Smith was gunned down while sitting outside his family's home in a West Willow neighborhood in Ypsilanti Township.
He was streaming a video on the social media site Facebook when shots rang out in the background.
Smith's mother, Genniece Smith, told FOX 2 that her son enjoyed going on Facebook live to connect with others and get people to laugh.
But not all social media users found his comments funny, his mother warned -- she said the person who committed the fatal shooting was upset about something her son said online.
"Terrell was a comedian. He disrespected people and they got mad," she said to FOX 2. "Words can’t kill you... a gun can."
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Washtenaw County deputies had little information about the alleged murder, but they did confirm a 46-year-old man had been shot.
His mother told FOX 2 that two gunmen got out of a vehicle; they opened fired on Smith and killed him while he sat in a chair.
Genniece claims the gunmen were mostly like members of a family that was angry over her son making fun of a video of a man getting a beat down on social media.
"My son put up a video of her son getting knocked out," she said. "A lot of people didn’t like Terrell- so what! People cannot kill people for talking."
"A family was mad at Terrell, they got on Facebook Live and said they were going to slap me and kill him," Genniece added.
The Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office had taped off the area around Smith's home and say the investigation into the shooting is still ongoing -- no arrests have been made.
"God has the last say. But right now, the devil came and took my son," Genniece said.
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