YouTube Star Freddy E Dies in Apparent Suicide

Seattle internet personality Freddy E, best known for YouTube program JerkTV, has died of an apparent suicide, the Seattle Times reports.

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The King County medical examiner's office lists the cause of death for Frederick E. Buhl, the hip-hop artist’s real name, as a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

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Quoting Buhl's father Douglass Buhl in a Facebook post, the family is said to be “saddened beyond words. … Not only our family, but the world has lost a talented, sensitive, brilliant young man who lit up our existence with his." JerkTV videos had been viewed more than 7 million times.

The 22-year-old died Saturday in Renton, Washington, a small urban city about 10 miles south of Seattle, not longer after he posted a string of cryptic messages to his more than 100,000 Twitter followers. Among the tweets: “It's... all... bad... y'all. *puts finger around trigger*” and “If there's a God then He's calling me back home. This barrel never felt so good next to my dome. It's cold & I'd rather die than live alone.”

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Earlier in the day, Freddy wrote, “been a long time since I've gone through heart break. It's a cold unforgiving world if I do say.”

An autopsy was due to be performed on Monday.

Update: Subsequent reports note that a fight occured between Freddy E and his ex-girlfriend Honey Cocaine just before he decided to apparently end his life. On Twitter, Cocaine would later defend herself and the relationship, writing: "To say I caused what happened is ignorance" and "You know nothing about our friendship or the story ... We loved each other."

According to Pop2It, which also reports of words exchanged between Cocaine and hip-hop groupie Kat Stacks, the girlfriend was indeed grieving. "I was there for him all the time," she wrote. "I said some foolish things cause I thought he was joking, he does shit like that to me all the time. This is crazy. ... RIP my angel, my condolences. @Freddy_E ... From the first time we met, we said we'd do whatever for eachother. Bonnie and f**king Clyde."

Twitter: @THRMusic