Livestreamer known for posting racist content is in custody after confrontation leads to shooting outside courthouse, DA says

By Emma Tucker, CNN

(CNN) — A livestreamer known for posting controversial videos using racial slurs is in custody after getting into a confrontation with a man that resulted in shots being fired in front of a Tennessee courthouse Wednesday, authorities said.

The shooting happened as Dalton Eatherly, who goes by Chud the Builder online, and the man were outside the Montgomery County Courthouse in Clarksville, the Tennessee District Attorney General’s Office said. Both men were shot and taken to nearby hospitals where they remain in stable condition, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.

It’s unclear how the shooting unfolded or what led up to it. The DA’s office confirmed Eatherly is a suspect but it’s unclear what charges he could face. The DA’s office didn’t specify who fired shots, saying the matter is under investigation.

Eatherly livestreamed himself speaking to first responders after the incident, saying “I had to defend myself by shooting him.”

He recounted walking past the man who, among others, were “laughing” and “pointing at me.” After approaching them, Eatherly said the unidentified man told him to walk away before coming back to him. 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,” Eatherly said in the video. The streamer has several videos online in which he refers to Black people as chimps.

Days earlier, Eatherly was kicked out of a restaurant and arrested in Nashville over the weekend on charges of theft of services, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to an affidavit. He was asked by restaurant staff not to livestream or be disruptive inside the establishment but did so anyway, the affidavit says.

Prosecutors in that case described Eatherly as a livestreamer “who filmed content, including racially charged content” on social media, the affidavit says.

When restaurant staff told him to stop live streaming, Eatherly became “disruptive and started making racial statements, yelling, screaming” and causing a scene, the affidavit said.

Eatherly then allegedly stated, “I’m not paying if you are kicking me out,” and then refused to pay for his meal costing $371.55, the affidavit said.

On Sunday, a day after the incident, officers found Eatherly walking on a street. When they told him he was under arrest and tried to place him in handcuffs, he pulled his arm away, the affidavit said. He was then arrested without further incident, it said.

Eatherly was later granted release on a $5,000 bond, according to a judge’s order.

Other videos Eatherly posted on social media outline a history of using racial slurs and at least one instance of using force against a Black person.

Eatherly could be seen spraying what appears to be a chemical agent at a Black man and repeatedly calling him “N***er” after the man knocked the hat off his head, according to a video he posted to X last week.

Eatherly’s conduct has been met with criticism, including from right-wing personalities like Nick Fuentes, a well-known White nationalist and Holocaust denier.

On Fuentes’ podcast, he was asked a question about Eatherly, to which he responded that he doesn’t like “that approach of antagonizing people in public… I think it’s wrong, it’s unethical.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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CNN’s Ryan Young and Nina Giraldo contributed to this report.