A vigilante 'pedophile hunter' in Michigan who posted his efforts on social media was shot dead

• A vigilante pedophile hunter was killed in Michigan over the weekend.
• He was shot dead after confronting two young men, one of whom he had accused of being a predator.

A vigilante pedophile hunter was shot dead over the weekend in Michigan after confronting a man he accused of being a sexual predator, according to authorities.

Robert Wayne Lee, who went by "Boopac Shakur" online and had more than 50,000 followers on Instagram, posted videos of himself confronting people he believed to be sexual predators who were looking to meet with minors.

Some of those videos show him getting into violent altercations with those he accused.

On Friday night, Lee approached two young men at a restaurant in Pontiac, accusing one of them of being a pedophile, Oakland County Sheriff's Office said, according to The Washington Post.

Lee punched one of the men, who pulled out a knife, The Post reported. The other man drew a pistol and shot Lee several times, police said, per The Post.

Lee was transported to a nearby hospital, where he later died of his injuries, the sheriff's office said in a news release.

The two young men from Pontiac, Michigan, aged 17 and 18, were arrested Saturday but have not been named by police, The Post reported.

The sheriff's office said it believes the 17-year-old was the shooter, according to The Post.

Though Lee was viewed as a hero by some in Michigan, with his Facebook page showing people praising and mourning him, police suggested that his well-meaning efforts were better left to professionals.

The sheriff's office said in the news release that although Lee's "one-man crusade has led to the arrest and criminal charges being filed against several men," he has also mistakenly identified someone as a sexual predator, per CNN.

Lee once successfully targeted an Oakland County sheriff's deputy working in a county jail, who was charged with one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes, according to The Oakland Press.

The Sheriff's Office advised that the vigilante approach is potentially dangerous and doesn't follow normal procedure.

According to CNN, 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."

Detectives will turn the case over to prosecutors for charges, police said, per CNN.

Oakland County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.