A man known for livestreaming racially derogatory statements to Black people in public settings has been taken into custody after being involved in a shooting during a confrontation outside a Tennessee courthouse on Wednesday, authorities said.
Dalton Eatherly, who goes by "Chud the Builder" online, and an unidentified man exchanged gunfire in an incident that left both hospitalized, according to District Attorney Robert J. Nash. Nash declined to provide details on why Eatherly was at the courthouse, what prompted the confrontation, or the identity and ethnicity of the other man.
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office confirmed both men were transported to hospitals for medical treatment and were in stable condition.
In a video posted on the website Pump.fun on Wednesday, Eatherly claimed he shot the man in self-defense after being struck.
Attorney Jacob Fendley, who represents Eatherly in a separate harassment case from November, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Court records show Eatherly had been scheduled to appear in court in Clarksville on Wednesday morning over a $3,300 debt owed to a credit company, a civil case filed in February by Midland Credit Management.
Eatherly, who is white, frequently livestreams confrontations where he makes racially derogatory remarks to Black individuals. In one video recorded at a market, he tells a passing Black man, "You chimpin' out"—a racist reference to chimpanzees—and repeatedly uses the N-word. The Black man, recording the encounter on his phone, responds, "Don't touch me."
A store clerk tells Eatherly he cannot use that word, to which he retorts, "America is free speech. Tell me I can't say something again. This is (expletive) America."
Historically, racists in the United States and elsewhere have compared Black people to monkeys or apes. In February, President Donald Trump posted a racist social media image depicting former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, as primates in a jungle. The post was deleted after bipartisan criticism.
In addition to the debt case, Eatherly faces a separate criminal case stemming from an incident at a Nashville steakhouse on Saturday. According to an affidavit, he was asked not to livestream inside the business but did so anyway. When asked to stop, he began yelling, screaming, and making racial statements. He was arrested on Sunday and charged with theft of services, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest, then released on $5,000 bond. His next court appearance in that case is scheduled for July 17 in Davidson County criminal court.
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office reported that one of the two men involved in Wednesday's shooting was taken to Vanderbilt of Clarksville Hospital, while the other was transported by Lifeflight to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. Hospital spokesperson Craig Boerner cited medical privacy laws in declining to disclose information about the victims.
