Dalton Eatherly, the 28-year-old streamer known online as ChudTheBuilder, has built a public image around racial confrontation, and now that image is sitting at the center of a serious criminal case in Tennessee.
Gun rights activist and YouTuber Colion Noir said in his video that Eatherly became known for walking up to Black people in public places, shouting racial slurs at them, and presenting the behavior as some kind of First Amendment campaign.
Noir did not soften his view of it. He described Eatherly’s content as a brand built on provocation, racism, and baiting people into reacting, not as serious speech advocacy.
The case exploded after a shooting outside the Montgomery County Courthouse in Clarksville, Tennessee, where Eatherly had reportedly been present for a civil case. According to a WKRN News 2 clip included in Noir’s video, reporter Audrey Mayer said Eatherly got into an argument with another man outside the courthouse before shots were fired.
Both men were taken to the hospital, Mayer reported, and investigators said the bullet that struck Eatherly reportedly came from his own gun.
That detail makes the whole case even more chaotic, because this was not just a confrontation that got out of control. It was a confrontation involving a man who had made public hostility part of his online act, then ended up bleeding from a gunshot wound tied to his own weapon.
Charges Followed Quickly
In another WKRN News 2 report included by Noir, anchor Bob Mueller said Eatherly was arrested and charged after the courthouse shooting.
Mueller reported that deputies charged Eatherly with attempted murder, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon. Noir added that Eatherly was also charged with employing a firearm during a dangerous felony.
The WSMV 4 Nashville bond hearing video gave a fuller look at how seriously the court treated the case.
During the hearing, the judge first warned the courtroom that there would be no outbursts or “shenanigans,” telling people they could be held in contempt if they caused a disturbance. That warning alone suggested the case had already drawn enough public attention that the court expected emotions to run high.
The judge then identified the case as State versus Dalton Eatherly and said Eatherly was facing count one of attempted criminal homicide, an A felony punishable by 15 to 60 years in state prison. The judge also listed employment of a firearm during a dangerous felony, assault with serious bodily harm, and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon.
At one point, after the judge said “criminal homicide,” someone in court clarified that the charge was attempted, and the judge agreed, saying he meant attempted criminal homicide.
The bond was set at $1.25 million.
The judge said that amount was based on the number of people in the courtyard, the fact that the incident happened at the courthouse, the seriousness of the felonies, and Eatherly’s bond status in other matters.
The Racist Persona Behind The Case
Noir’s report focused heavily on the public conduct that made Eatherly infamous online.
According to Noir, Eatherly streams on a platform called Pump.fun and films himself approaching Black people in stores, parking lots, sidewalks, and other public spaces. Noir said Eatherly uses racial slurs, calls people “chimps,” threatens to bear mace them, and tries to bait them into swinging at him.
It is ugly behavior, and there is no need to dress it up as edgy politics or constitutional theater. Shouting slurs at strangers is not brave. It is not clever. It is not advocacy. It is racism performed for attention, with real people used as props.
Noir argued that Eatherly’s mistake was pretending the First Amendment protects him from every consequence of his conduct.
As Noir explained, the First Amendment limits what the government can do in response to speech. It does not mean private citizens must calmly accept someone walking up to them and insulting them in the most degrading way possible.
That does not mean words alone justify violence, and Noir was clear about that too. But his larger point was that Eatherly appeared to be using free speech as bait while carrying a gun as backup.
That is a poisonous mix, especially when the person doing it seems less interested in principle than in content.
A Troubling Pattern Before The Shooting
Noir also said this was not Eatherly’s only recent run-in with the law.
According to Noir, five days before the courthouse shooting, Eatherly was arrested at an upscale steakhouse in Nashville after allegedly harassing strangers, yelling racial slurs at diners, and refusing to pay a roughly $400 bill. Noir said he was charged in that incident with theft of service, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest.
Noir also pointed to a post he said Eatherly made less than a week before the courthouse shooting, in which Eatherly wrote that he would defend his life with lethal force and warned people not to approach him with intent to harm him.
Then, according to Noir, the same post included the phrase, “series finale is dead chimp on the pavement and you monkeys rioting when I walk free.”
That kind of language is not just offensive. It is chilling when placed next to a courthouse shooting days later.
Noir said Eatherly had effectively “posted the plan,” “wrote the script,” and “teased the finale” before going out and trying to film it.
To be fair, Noir also said several important facts were still unknown. He said there was not yet a public police report, sworn witness testimony, bodycam footage, or the other man’s full account available in the public record he was discussing.
That caution matters. A criminal case should be judged on facts, not online disgust alone.
But disgust is still understandable here, because the public facts described by Noir show a pattern of racial harassment that was not accidental or private. It was the product.
A Self-Defense Claim With A Serious Problem
Noir said Eatherly gave part of his side while lying on a stretcher after the shooting, apparently still speaking to his livestream audience.
In the clip Noir played, Eatherly claimed the other man had been pointing and laughing at him. He said he approached and asked how they were doing, then said the man told him to walk away.
Eatherly claimed he walked away, but said the man came back up to him, warned that he had PTSD, and said that if Eatherly started saying “all that chimp out” language to him, he would hit him. Eatherly then claimed the man hit him and kept attacking even after Eatherly shot him.
Noir identified the other man as Joshua Fox, 31, and said Fox was a disabled veteran who had served six years in the Army. Noir also mentioned reports of past domestic allegations involving Fox, but said he did not think those allegations were especially relevant to the core legal question.
In Noir’s view, the central issue is not whether Fox is a good person or whether he may have thrown the first punch. The issue is whether Eatherly was legally justified in escalating the encounter to deadly force.
Noir explained Tennessee’s self-defense law in plain terms, saying a person may use force if they reasonably believe it is immediately necessary to protect themselves against unlawful force. Deadly force, however, requires a reasonable belief of imminent death, serious bodily injury, or sexual abuse.
He also said Tennessee’s stand-your-ground rules do not mean someone can provoke violence and then automatically claim self-defense.
That is where Eatherly’s online conduct could matter, according to Noir. A jury may be able to consider his livestreams, his racial taunts, his pre-shooting post, his steakhouse arrest, and his own stretcher statement when deciding whether his response was reasonable.
Bond Set At $1.25 Million
The WSMV 4 Nashville bond hearing showed that prosecutors also raised concern about Eatherly’s existing legal status.
During the hearing, the state said Eatherly was already on bond in two other cases, one from Montgomery County and one from Davidson County. The state asked that he be held without bond until a later hearing, arguing that the court needed more information to make a decision based on bond factors.
The judge said the court would consider Tennessee bond law, including public safety and public interest, at a later bond hearing. For the moment, he set the initial bond at $1.25 million.
A bond hearing was scheduled for May 21, and a preliminary hearing was set for May 26, according to the courtroom discussion shown by WSMV 4 Nashville.
The size of the bond fits the gravity of the allegations. This was not some online stunt that stayed online. According to the reports, it happened outside a courthouse, in a public area, with people nearby, and both men ended up hospitalized.
Noir’s harshest criticism was not just that Eatherly used racist language. It was that he used constitutional language to give his conduct a costume, as if screaming slurs at strangers were noble because he called it speech.
It is not noble. It is cheap, cruel, and dangerous.
And if the allegations hold, Eatherly may now learn that turning racism into content does not protect anyone from the criminal justice system when bullets start flying.
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, John developed a love for the great outdoors early on. With years of experience as a wilderness guide, he’s navigated rugged terrains and unpredictable weather patterns. John is also an avid hunter and fisherman who believes in sustainable living. His focus on practical survival skills, from building shelters to purifying water, reflects his passion for preparedness. When he’s not out in the wild, you can find him sharing his knowledge through writing, hoping to inspire others to embrace self-reliance.
