CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) 鈥� A man who goes by 鈥淐hud the Builder鈥� and livestreams himself saying racially derogatory statements to Black people in public settings was taken into custody after being involved in a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse on Wednesday, authorities said.
Dalton Eatherly 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鈥檛 say why Eatherly was at that courthouse in Clarksville, what he was doing or what prompted the confrontation.
Police didn鈥檛 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鈥檚 Office said.
Claire Martin, who works in an attorney鈥檚 office across the street from the courthouse, said Eatherly is 鈥渨ell known in Clarksville for antagonizing people to see what he can get them to do.鈥� She said he 鈥測ells racial slurs鈥� at people while filming them. 鈥淗e鈥檚 not a contributing member of society,鈥� she said.
Martin did not see the altercation but saw the aftermath. The other man 鈥渨aved at us as he got in the ambulance,鈥� she 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.
鈥楧id I shoot myself … ?鈥�
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.
鈥淒id I shoot myself or did it graze it?鈥� Eatherly asked.
Eatherly had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning in Clarksville, located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast 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鈥檛 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, 鈥淵ou chimpin鈥� out,” a reference to chimpanzees. He then uses the N-word a number of times.
The Black man is seen using a cellphone to record the confrontation, telling Eatherly, 鈥淒on鈥檛 touch me.鈥�
A clerk tells Eatherly he鈥檚 not allowed to say that word. He responds 鈥淎merica is free speech. Tell me I can鈥檛 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 featuring former and his wife, , 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 鈥渟tarted making racial statements.鈥�
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 鈥渁nd goes around and starts things.鈥�
鈥淚 was just kind of like it鈥檚 a matter of time. I mean, because what he鈥檚 doing is hate. It鈥檚 not even freedom of speech and that鈥檚 what he claims to do,鈥� Quillen said.
The Montgomery County Sheriff鈥檚 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鈥檛 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.
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Loller reported from Nashville, Tennessee, and McAvoy from Honolulu. Associated Press writers Corey Williams in Detroit and John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed.
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