Tennessee man known for racist videos held on $1.25M bond for courthouse shooting

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man who goes by the moniker Chud the Builder and is known for posting racist videos to social media was given a $1.25 million preliminary bond on attempted murder and other charges on Friday.

Dalton Eatherly, 28, is accused of shooting another person in the middle of the day on Wednesday outside the Montgomery County Courthouse during an altercation.

At an arraignment on Friday, prosecutors asked that he be held without bond until there can be a full hearing next week. Judge H. Reid Poland III declined that recommendation but set a high bond nonetheless, “based upon the fact of how many people were here in the courtyard or at the courthouse and the seriousness of these felonies.”

In addition to the attempted murder charge, Eatherly faces charges of employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon.

Poland also noted that Eatherly had previously been released on bond in two other cases. He faces a harassment charge in Montgomery County from November. He was also charged last week in Nashville’s Davidson County with theft of services, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

An attorney who was appointed to represent Eatherly on the felony charges Friday, Jacob Fendley, did not return a phone call requesting comment.

Eatherly, who is white, posts videos to social media where he tries to provoke Black passersby by using racial slurs and racist dog whistles. He makes videos in Nashville and in Montgomery County’s Clarksville.

He was being held in the Montgomery County jail on Friday, according to jail records. A full bond hearing is scheduled on May 21 and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 26.