Dalton Eatherly, the 28-year-old Tennessee livestreamer known online as "Chud the Builder," is staring down a potential 60-year prison sentence. Currently held at the Montgomery County Jail on a staggering $1.25 million bond, Eatherly faces attempted criminal homicide and several other felony charges following a shooting outside a courthouse that left a disabled military veteran wounded.

The case marks a dramatic escalation for a man who built his online persona around "rage-bait" content—deliberately provoking Black pedestrians with severe racial slurs to exploit social media algorithms. After losing his construction job due to a viral road-rage incident, Eatherly turned to livestreaming on platforms like Kick and X, marketing himself as a "free speech patriot" while engaging in targeted harassment.

The shooting occurred on May 13, 2026, outside the Montgomery County Courthouse in Clarksville. According to authorities, Eatherly allegedly shot Joshua Fox, a disabled military veteran, in the stomach and shoulder. Fox required emergency surgery but survived. Eatherly himself suffered a gunshot wound to the arm during the encounter.

The Charges and Potential Sentence

The legal consequences Eatherly faces are severe. A Tennessee judge confirmed during his May 15 arraignment that if convicted on all counts, he could be sentenced to up to 60 years in prison. The charges include:

• Attempted Criminal Homicide (Class A Felony): 15 to 60 years — The victim, Joshua Fox, was shot multiple times in a public space.
• Employing a Firearm During a Dangerous Felony (Class C Felony): Mandatory 6 years — Tennessee law requires this sentence to be served consecutively.
• Aggravated Assault (Class C Felony): 3 to 15 years — Stemming from the brandishing of the weapon.
• Reckless Endangerment with a Deadly Weapon (Class E Felony): 1 to 6 years — Due to gunfire outside an active public courthouse.

Prosecutors are pursuing maximum sentencing guidelines under Tennessee's repeat-offender and bail-violation statutes, as Eatherly committed this violent offense while out on a pre-trial bond from a previous arrest.

The Steakhouse Disturbance: A Warning Ignored

Just four days before the shooting, on May 9, 2026, Eatherly was arrested at Bob's Steak & Chop House in downtown Nashville. The police affidavit reveals a disturbing pattern: restaurant staff had explicitly instructed him not to livestream, yet employees discovered he was secretly broadcasting the entire time on the crypto-token platform pump.fun.

When management asked him to shut down the stream, Eatherly began screaming, yelling, and shouting aggressive racial slurs inside the dining room. After being told to leave, he refused to pay his $371.55 bill, stating, "I'm not paying if you are kicking me out." He was charged with theft of services, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest, and released on a $5,000 bond—a bond that was later revoked following the courthouse shooting.

A History of Escalation

Eatherly's reputation is built on documented progression from verbal abuse to physical violence. His streams consistently featured him walking up to Black strangers in public places to hurl aggressive racial slurs and demeaning language, including explicit racist dog whistles such as referring to Black people as "chimps." Court documents and stream histories show at least one prior instance where he used physical force against a Black individual during a public confrontation.

His extreme behavior resulted in extensive public condemnation and frequent suspensions across mainstream social media platforms. Following his arrest for the courthouse shooting, community members and local witnesses remarked to reporters that they were not surprised by the escalation, viewing a violent real-world outcome as a predictable end-stage to his online behavior.

The case has drawn attention to the real-world consequences of "rage-bait" content creation, where algorithms reward provocation and controversy. What began as a strategy to exploit engagement metrics has now landed Eatherly in a jail cell, facing the possibility of spending the majority of his life behind bars.