‘I’m Gonna Fight’: Florida Mom Demands Charges for White Man Who Fantasized About Shooting Black Girl Who Rang His Doorbell In Viral Post, Refuses to Accept His Apology
The mother of a 9-year-old girl is demanding criminal charges against a Florida homeowner who posted a doorbell camera photo of her daughter on social media and threatened to shoot her. The homeowner, Tyler Chambers, faced an intense wave of backlash online for posting the image on a community Facebook group with the caption, “You’re lucky we weren’t home to shoot your a— dumb b—.” Screenshots of the post were reposted and shared numerous times on social media, and many online users condemned the violent threats Chambers made against a child. Tyler Chambers wrote a Facebook post saying that he would shoot a girl for ringing his doorbell. (Photo: X/@BachirSoHumble) Beyond Envy spoke to Atlanta Black Star about her and her daughter's reactions to the viral post and how the investigation local authorities have launched into the post is shaping up. Envy said she learned her daughter went viral early last week. She said her sister texted her, and then when she got home, her nieces rushed out of the house to tell her that Sincere's face was all over social media. She went to Chambers' home on April 15 to confront him directly. As a concealed weapons license holder, she said she was carrying a gun in her purse for self-defense purposes because Chambers' post made her wary about how he might react to her visit, but he and his family weren't home. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Atlanta Black Star (@atlblackstar) After deciding to call officers and report Chambers and the viral post, Envy said authorities told her that Chambers and his family fled their home after people started doxxing his address and place of work. Envy and her daughter, Sincere, were later interviewed by detectives about the 9-year-old's visit to Chambers' home. Her daughter said she and her 11-year-old cousin came home from school on April 14 with an idea to go door-to-door around her neighborhood in the Riverview suburb of Tampa to sell candy and some of her toys to raise money. Envy said she was home with her 1-year-old child and her mother and wasn't aware that the girls had left the home to sell candy. Doorbell camera footage from Chambers' home shows the child approaching his front door with a bag of items, knocking on the door a few times, and peeking inside to see if anyone was home. At one point, she's heard directing some profanities at the homeowners. "She said, 'I would just like to let you know that you are a p— b—.' And I told the officers that she was completely out of line," Envy said. "She was completely wrong for that and I handled that with her, but I didn't know she used any profanity before I made the police report, and detectives showed me the video." Envy said the detectives told her that what her daughter said on video doesn't excuse Chambers from going online and posting the threat. Detectives told Envy that Chambers wanted to apologize, but Envy said she was not in a position to accept an apology right now. "Deep down, I really feel like he did mean what he said, and I feel like if he was home, he would have hurt my baby. So I wasn't on board with him apologizing to me," Envy said. What disheartened Envy even further was that she moved to the Riverview area a few years ago to raise her kids in a better neighborhood than she grew up in. But the incident involving Chambers made her feel insular. "I moved them out here thinking this would be good for them — good schools, good neighborhood, where they can go outside and play and I feel comfortable," Envy said. "But now that this has happened, I'm kind of now keeping them to myself." Detectives told Envy that they've handed their findings over to the state attorney's office, where prosecutors are now determining whether to file charges in the case. Envy said that Sincere has suffered some mental and emotional distress since the post went viral. The 9-year-old spends some of her time on TikTok, trying the viral dances she sees people choreograph on the app, but Envy said she never expected to go viral because she was accused of attempting a break-in or being a thief. "My daughter's tough, so for her to be in that type of distress, I can see that it bothered her. She don't even wanna go back outside," Envy said. "I tried to talk to her and let her know she's 9 years old, she still gets to enjoy life, but these things don't go away. It's always gonna be there, and when she looks on social media 10 years from now, she'll still see that." Envy said she's received a lot of support online from hundreds of people and was encouraged to start a Change.org petition where people can back her fight to press charges against Chambers. So far, the petition has been signed by more than 900 people. The GoFundMe she started to raise money to hire a lawyer for the legal battle ahead has also picked up steam and raised more than $13,000. "With this case, I'm gonna fight because this is my daughter. I want her to look back and say that my mom fought that case for me, not my mom say back and did nothing. I won't let this go until something is done about it," Envy said.
