What to know about a Tennessee man known for making racist videos now charged with attempted murder

‘Did I shoot myself …?’

At about 1:20 p.m. on Wednesday, police responded to a report of shots fired outside the Montgomery County Courthouse. Deputies detained two people who were involved in a “physical altercation that escalated to gunfire," according to a news release from the sheriff's office. Both people sustained gunshot wounds and were taken to separate hospitals where they were both listed as being stable.

District Attorney General Robert Nash, in a separate news release, identified one of the people involved as Eatherly. Authorities declined to answer questions about the second man; however, a witness who said she saw him loaded into an ambulance described him as Black.

Neither Nash nor the sheriff's office have said what exactly led to the confrontation. It was not immediately clear if Eatherly has an attorney in the case who could speak for him. The courthouse was closed on Thursday because of the shooting, and online records were not updated. An attorney representing Eatherly in a different case did not return a call seeking comment.

In an audio stream from just after the shooting that Eatherly posted to social media, Eatherly says he shot a man in self-defense after the person started hitting him. Eatherly speaks with paramedics in the clip, one of whom takes note of a bullet wound’s entry and exit point in his arm.

“Did I shoot myself or did it graze it?” Eatherly asks.

After leaving the hospital on Wednesday, Eatherly was taken to the Montgomery County jail. He is charged with attempted murder, employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon.

Authorities on Thursday did not provide an update on the condition of the other man, and a hospital spokesperson said medical privacy laws prohibit them from disclosing information about victims of violence.

The free speech defense

In an online fundraiser Eatherly posted for himself at some point prior to the shooting, he complains that he cannot get jobs for his contracting business because people object to the videos he makes. He claims to make “mild jokes” and admits that he uses racial slurs while calling it “harmless humor.” It is unclear when the fundraiser was first posted. He addresses it to “friends, supporters, and champions of free speech.”

Although Eatherly repeatedly references free speech in his social media posts, what he does in those posts may actually be crimes under Tennessee law, said David Raybin, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor who is an expert in the state's criminal law. Because Eatherly was known to openly carry a pistol while berating people, the combination could constitute assault, Raybin said.

“You don’t have to touch someone,” he said. Assault can be charged if you “create fear of imminent harm.”

Meanwhile, merely coming at someone with “fighting words” constitutes disorderly conduct under local Nashville ordinances.

Well known in the community

Claire Martin works in a law office across the street from the courthouse and said she saw the aftermath of the shooting. She said Eatherly is well known in the community for yelling racial slurs at Black people while filming them. Eatherly also regularly does the same in downtown Nashville, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the southeast.

Just the previous Saturday, Eatherly was kicked out of a Nashville steakhouse after he refused to stop livestreaming from inside the restaurant. An affidavit filed by police said he started yelling, screaming and “making racial statements” before leaving without paying a nearly $400 bill. He was arrested the following day and charged with theft of services, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He was released on $5,000 bond.

On the morning of the shooting, he had been scheduled to appear in court in Clarksville 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’t indicate whether Eatherly showed up for the status hearing. Online records list the case as open. The shooting occurred several hours later.

Next steps

Eatherly was not listed in online court records as of Thursday afternoon, but if the case proceeds as ones normally do in Montgomery County, he will be arraigned on Friday. That is when a judge will decide on bond.

While police have not said what happened prior to the shooting, if Eatherly is found to have provoked the other person, it would be very difficult to prove self-defense, said Raybin, the criminal defense expert. Regardless, a person only has the right to use deadly force if threatened with death or great bodily harm.

“I think a prosecutor would give very little weight to claims of self-defense,” Raybin said.

Associated Press videojournalist Kristin M. Hall contributed from Clarksville, Tennessee. Associated Press writers Corey Williams in Detroit and John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, also contributed.