‘Seems as If They Were on His Side’: Mother of 9-Year-Old Girl Threatened By Florida Homeowner In Viral Social Media Post Says Prosecutors Decided Not to Pursue Criminal Case
Headline 2: Mother of 9-Year-Old Girl Threatened by Florida Homeowner on Social Media Says Prosecutors Won’t Pursue Criminal Case Because ‘They Couldn’t Prove He Had True Intentions of Hurting Her’
Headline 3: Prosecutors Won’t Pursue Criminal Case Against Florida Homeowner Who Threatened 9-Year-Old Black Girl on Social Media, Mother Says She’s Moving Out of ‘Racist Neighborhood’
State attorneys won’t prosecute a Florida man who threatened a Black child on social media after she knocked on his door to sell some of her toys and candy, the girl’s mother states.
Beyond Shabazz told Atlanta Black Star that prosecutors will not pursue charges against Tyler Chambers, a Tampa-area homeowner who went viral earlier this year after he posted a doorbell camera image of Shabazz’s 9-year-old daughter with the caption, “You’re lucky we weren’t home to shoot your a— dumb b—.”
Chambers shared the post in a community group, and it was screenshotted and reshared all over social media, quickly drawing backlash. Many people condemned the violent threats Chambers aimed at the child and pointed to the racist overtones in his language.
Before deactivating his account entirely, Chambers deleted his post and later stated his case, alleging the girl — who had gone to the home with her 11-year-old cousin and was recorded saying, “I would just like to let you know that you are a p— b—h” — was acting as a “decoy” for an attempted break-in at his home without sharing evidence to support the accusation.
“I saw that on my camera and have a wife and 7-month-old at home, which I will protect as you would. I was hot when I posted it which is why I deleted it right away I could have handled it a lot different,” Chambers wrote, adding he wanted to locate the girl’s parents to apologize.
Shabazz said she had been waiting for weeks to hear from the state attorney’s office about the status of a potential criminal case against Chambers and finally heard back this week with the reason they decided not to move forward.
“They said he stated he was not home, so they couldn’t prove he had true intentions of hurting her,” Shabazz said. “I feel that their decisions were made only to avoid prosecuting Mr. Chambers; they worked very hard to find every reason not to file charges against him. It seems as if they were on his side.”
She continued, “I am not okay with their decision, but they claim that this decision was made according to the law, so they have closed the case pertaining to Mr. Chambers.”
Shabazz has indicated that she and her attorneys plan to sue Chambers.
After his home address was doxxed, authorities told Shabazz that he and his family temporarily moved out of their home. Shabazz said the family has since moved back in.
Shabazz and Chambers became neighbors after she moved her family to the Riverview area of Tampa a few years ago. Now, she says she’s in the process of moving out of “this racist neighborhood for the sake of my kids’ future.”