An online beef between YouTube streamers, which included personal and public attacks — including an alleged pepper spray incident, where a friend said, “I’m just glad … it wasn’t bullets” — turned deadly over the weekend in Las Vegas, with one of the YouTubers shooting and killing the other outside a resort.
Friends and family identified the victim as 44-year-old Rodney Finley — also known as Finny Da Legend on YouTube — who was allegedly murdered by a streamer known as Sin City Manny, Manuel Ruiz, 41, according to local CBS affiliate KLAS.
A judge in Las Vegas Justice Court ordered Ruiz, who is charged with two counts of murder, to be held without bail on Tuesday. According to his arrest report, he allegedly told cops that Finley’s wife, Tanisha Finley, who was also killed, approached Ruiz outside a Las Vegas Strip resort and was “dancing in his face,” according to KLAS. According to the arrest report, Ruiz claimed that Finley reached for something in his waistband and aggressively asked him “What’s up cuz?”, which prompted Ruiz to shoot in self-defense.
Ruiz initially claimed he fired a single shot at Finley’s torso before aiming higher and blasting him again as Finley continued to reach for his waistband. Finley’s wife was shot after Ruiz allegedly saw a “shiny black object” in her possession and mistook it for a gun, police said.
A mutual friend and fellow YouTube content creator, who has not been publicly identified, allegedly told cops that the shooting was broadcast live and that he witnessed it. The friend saw Ruiz “pull a gun from his front waistband and point it towards where he believed Finny [Finley] was standing,” according to the arrest report. The friend “saw the muzzle flash on video and heard five to six gunshots,” according to the report.
Police officers on duty nearby heard the shots and responded. Ruiz allegedly fled the scene, but was apprehended after his wife, Juliana Pimentel, approached cops and claimed her husband was to blame, according to the report.
Fellow YouTubers have taken to their channels in the days following the shooting to explain what allegedly occurred and how the two parties were feuding online prior to the fatal confrontation, according to local NBC affiliate KSNV.
“He recorded a livestream where Manny basically said he’s going to come after Finny,” said YouTuber LFP Gaming in a recent video, according to KSNV.
Another streamer, Daniel Gutierrez, told KSNV that the feud stemmed from the YouTubers’ alleged desire for more viewers and control over streaming in the Vegas area. He said Ruiz, in particular, was “demanding” that Finley not film in certain locations.
“He started losing streamers,” Gutierrez claimed of Ruiz, noting how he allegedly spoke negatively about Finley’s wife and used racial slurs.
“The followers that were normally with Manny are now giving money to Finney,” he informed them. “That made things worse for Manny. And then Finney would post, ‘Look at how many streamers,’ or how many viewers he has now.
Derek Ware, one of Finley’s friends, told local Fox affiliate KVVU that the problems between Finley and Ruiz had “brewed for two years.” Things got so bad that Ruiz allegedly aimed pepper spray at Finley’s wife during one incident, according to Ware.
“I was saying, ‘I’m just glad it was pepper spray, it wasn’t bullets,” Ware told the television station KVVU. “I replied, ‘I don’t want to. I don’t want to see you here in pain, with bullets in your body, so let’s figure this out.”
Ware claimed the allegations about Ruiz losing followers were true, and that he met Finley and began following him after watching Ruiz’s livestreams.
