Man known for racially derogatory livestreams charged with attempted
murder after Tennessee shooting
[May 14, 2026]
By KRISTIN M. HALL, TRAVIS LOLLER and AUDREY McAVOY
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A man who goes by “Chud the Builder” and
livestreams himself saying racially derogatory statements to Black
people in public settings was arrested and charged with attempted murder
after a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse on Wednesday,
authorities said.
Dalton Eatherly, 28, and an unidentified man were involved in a
confrontation that resulted in gunfire, District Attorney Robert J. Nash
said in a statement. But Nash wouldn’t say why Eatherly was at that
courthouse in Clarksville, what he was doing or what prompted the
confrontation.
Police didn’t provide the race of the other man. However, a witness who
said she saw him loaded into an ambulance described him as Black.
Both men were transported to hospitals for medical treatment and were
stable, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said.
Eatherly was being held at the Montgomery County jail until bond can be
set at an arraignment hearing, the county sheriff’s office said.
Eatherly was also charged with employing a firearm during dangerous
felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly
weapon, the sheriff's office said.
Jacob Fendley, an attorney listed in court records as representing
Eatherly in a separate harassment case from November, did not
immediately return a phone message.
Claire Martin, who works in an attorney’s office across the street from
the courthouse, said Eatherly is “well known in Clarksville for
antagonizing people to see what he can get them to do.” She said he
“yells racial slurs” at people while filming them. “He’s not a
contributing member of society,” she said.
Martin did not see the altercation but saw the aftermath. The other man
“waved at us as he got in the ambulance,” she said.
‘Did I shoot myself ... ?’
In a video posted on the website Pump.fun on Wednesday, Eatherly said he
shot a man in self-defense after the person starting hitting him.
Eatherly speaks with paramedics in the clip, one of whom takes note of a
wound's entry and exit point.
“Did I shoot myself or did it graze it?” Eatherly asked.
Eatherly had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning in
Clarksville, located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of
Nashville, over a $3,300 debt allegedly owed to a credit company,
according to Montgomery County court records. The civil case was filed
in February on behalf of Midland Credit Management.
Court records didn’t indicate whether Eatherly showed up for the status
hearing. Online records list the case as open.
Eatherly, a white man, livestreams confrontations to social media where
he can be seen and heard making racially derogatory statements to Black
people in public.
In one video taken in a market, he says to a passing Black man, “You
chimpin’ out," a reference to chimpanzees. He then uses the N-word a
number of times.
[to top of second column]
|
This photo provided by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department
shows Dalton Eatherly in Nashville, Tenn., on Sunday, May 10, 2026,
after his arrest. (Metropolitan Nashville Police via AP)
The Black man is seen using a cellphone to record the confrontation,
telling Eatherly, “Don’t touch me.”
A clerk tells Eatherly he’s not allowed to say that word. He
responds “America is free speech. Tell me I can’t say something
again. This is (expletive) America."
Racists in the United States and other countries historically have
compared Black people to monkeys or apes. In February, President
Donald Trump posted a racist social media post featuring former
President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, as primates in
a jungle. It was deleted after both Republicans and Democrats
criticized the video as offensive.
Steakhouse theft and disorderly conduct charges
In addition to the credit debt case, Eatherly faces a separate
criminal case in which he is accused of becoming unruly at a
Nashville steakhouse on Saturday and refusing to pay the nearly $400
bill.
According to an affidavit in the case, the restaurant had asked him
not to stream inside the business, but he did anyway. When they
asked him to stop, he began yelling and screaming and “started
making racial statements.”
He was arrested and charged on Sunday with theft of services,
disorderly conduct and resisting arrest and released on $5,000 bond.
His next appearance in this case was scheduled for July 17 in
Davidson County criminal court.
Clarksville resident Larry Quillen said he's seen videos in which
Eatherly carries a gun and mace “and goes around and starts things.”
“I was just kind of like it’s a matter of time. I mean, because what
he’s doing is hate. It’s not even freedom of speech and that’s what
he claims to do,” Quillen said.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said one of the two men
involved in Wednesday's shooting was taken to Vanderbilt of
Clarksville Hospital for treatment. A message left with the hospital
wasn’t immediately returned.
The other was transported by Lifeflight to Vanderbilt University
Medical Center in Nashville, the sheriff's office said. A
spokesperson for the hospital, Craig Boerner, said medical privacy
laws prohibited the disclosure of information about victims of
violence.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
