A livestreamer known for posting videos with racist content online appeared in court Friday morning on charges including attempted murder after a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse.
Dalton Eatherly, who goes by “Chud the Builder” online, was taken into custody after a confrontation with another man, who authorities have not named, escalated into a shooting outside the Montgomery County Courthouse in Clarksville on Wednesday, the Tennessee District Attorney General’s Office said.
Eatherly, 28, faces additional charges including employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said.
During his arraignment and bond hearing, General Session Court Judge Reid Poland III set a $1.25 million bond, “based upon the fact of how many people were in the courtyard over here at the courthouse and the seriousness of all these felonies.”
Eatherly, wearing a marked Montgomery County Jail jumpsuit, could be seen closing his eyes for a while when the judge announced the bond amount.
Attempted criminal homicide carries a possible sentence of 15 to 60 years in a Tennessee state penitentiary, the judge said.
A preliminary hearing for Eatherly was set for May 26.
Attorney Jake Fendley was appointed to represent Eatherly at the hearing. Court records show he has represented Eatherly in the past. CNN has reached out for comment.
Eatherly’s track record on social media reveals a history of posting videos of him using racial slurs toward Black people and other minorities, including at least one instance of using force against a Black person. The streamer often refers to Black people as chimps in his online videos.
After the incident on Wednesday, Eatherly livestreamed himself speaking to first responders. He recounted walking past a group of people who Eatherly said were “laughing” and “pointing at me.” Eatherly said he was told to walk away by one unidentified man in the group, who then approached Eatherly, saying, “I have PTSD.”
“He said, ‘You start saying all that chimp out s**t to me and ‘imma hit you,’ and he hit me, he started whaling on me, even after I had to defend myself by shooting him,” Eatherly said in the video.
Both men were shot and taken to nearby hospitals, where they were in stable condition, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said. While both men were initially detained, the unidentified man involved is no longer detained and was handed over to medical personnel later on, the sheriff’s office said.
While officials did not provide a description of the victim, a witness who said she saw the other man being loaded into the ambulance described him as Black to the Associated Press.
It’s not clear how many firearms were involved, how the shooting unfolded or what led up to it.
His previous arrest came after another incident on Saturday, when Eatherly was kicked out of a restaurant in Nashville and later arrested and charged with theft of services, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to an affidavit.
Prosecutors in that case described him as a livestreamer who “filmed content, including racially charged content” on social media, an affidavit said.
Eatherly had been asked by restaurant staff not to livestream or be disruptive inside the establishment but did so anyway, the affidavit says. When he was told to stop live streaming, Eatherly became “disruptive and started making racial statements, yelling, screaming” and causing a scene, the affidavit said.
He then refused to pay for his meal costing $371.55 after allegedly stating: “I’m not paying if you are kicking me out,” the affidavit said.
Eatherly was taken into custody a few hours later. He initially pulled his arm away when officers tried to place him in handcuffs but was then arrested without further incident, the affidavit said. He was later granted release on a $5,000 bond, according to a judge’s order.
A hearing was scheduled at the Montgomery County Courthouse Wednesday morning – where the shooting happened – in a civil case between Eatherly and Midland Credit Management Inc., court records showed, but it’s unclear whether he appeared for the hearing. He allegedly owed a debt of $3,300 to the credit company, according to the county’s court records, the AP reported.
