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A Tennessee livestreamer known online as “Chud the Builder” was charged after a shooting outside the Montgomery County Courthouse in Clarksville, where authorities say a confrontation between him and another man ended in gunfire Wednesday afternoon.
Dalton Eatherly, 28, and the other man both suffered gunshot wounds and were taken for medical treatment in stable condition, according to statements cited by ABC News and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
District Attorney General Robert Nash said the preliminary investigation found that Eatherly and an unidentified man had a confrontation before shots were fired.
Charges Filed Against Dalton Eatherly
Eatherly was later booked into the Montgomery County Jail and charged with criminal attempt: murder, employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, according to Clarksville Now, which cited local authorities.
The shooting occurred around 1:15 p.m. in the courthouse area at Millennium Plaza, a public space near the Montgomery County Courts Center.
Local reporting said witnesses described a brief, chaotic encounter, with one witness saying a man punched Eatherly and another saying several shots followed.
A Livestream Persona Built On Provocation
Two men were injured and detained after a shooting outside the Montgomery County Courthouse in Clarksville, including social media personality Dalton Eatherly, known online as “Chud the Builder,” authorities said.
Officials say the shooting may have started as a physical… pic.twitter.com/oych0pRvSk
— FoxNashville (@FOXNashville) May 13, 2026
Eatherly’s online identity has now become inseparable from the criminal case. The Associated Press described him as a man known for livestreaming himself making racially derogatory comments to Black people in public.
Local residents and witnesses told reporters that he had become known around Clarksville for provoking confrontations while filming.
That tension now sits at the center of the public debate around the case: whether confrontational livestreaming, built for attention and escalation, helped create the conditions for real-world violence.
Victim Not Publicly Identified
Authorities have not publicly identified the other wounded man. AP reported that police had not released his race, though a witness who saw him being loaded into an ambulance described him as Black. Officials have also not fully explained what sparked the confrontation or why Eatherly was at the courthouse that day.
Court records cited by AP showed Eatherly had been scheduled for a civil hearing involving an alleged $3,300 debt to Midland Credit Management, but it was not immediately clear whether that hearing was connected to his presence at the courthouse.
Earlier Arrest In Nashville
The courthouse shooting came only days after Eatherly was arrested in Nashville following an incident at Bob’s Steak & Chop House.
According to AP, police said he continued livestreaming after being asked to stop, became disruptive, allegedly made racial remarks and refused to pay a restaurant bill. He faced charges in that case including theft of services, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Case Now Moves Into Court
The central facts still need to be tested in court. Eatherly has been accused, not convicted, and authorities have not released a complete account of the confrontation.
But the charges mark a sharp escalation for a livestreamer whose public presence depended on confrontation, racial provocation and the viral economy of outrage.
For Clarksville, the shooting turned a courthouse plaza into a crime scene. For the wider public, it raises a harder question about online performance spilling into public spaces: what happens when rage-bait content no longer stays on a screen.
