Gavin Free and Meg Turney had to hide in their closet from an armed intruder in
their home. Welcome back to What's Trending, I'm Shira Lazar. Be sure to LIKE
this video and SUBSCRIBE for more social media news daily. The intruder has been
identified as Christopher Giles. He was apparently a crazed fan of Meg's and
resented Gavin. The couple heard breaking glass and a gunshot around 3:40 a.m. on
January 26. That's when they hid in a closet and called 911.
Now, just hearing this, this is my worst nightmare.
We're already at the beginning of this story and it already freaks me out. I
know both Meg and Gavin and it just, uh. This hurts just to even think that this
happened to them. And then apparently, Giles left when he was unable to find
them. Police then discovered Giles pulling out of their driveway in his car and
ordered him to stop. The police heard a single gunshot and then returned fire.
Giles was discovered dead in the car with a .45 caliber handgun by his hand.
Now according to the American-Statesman, Giles fired in the policeman who
returned fire, Officer Matthew Jackson, shot Giles, killing him. And according to
police, Giles lived alone and spent his time playing video games and watching
YouTube content focused on video games. This is likely how he developed his
fondness for Meg Turney, whose YouTube channel focuses on gaming and has over
330,000 subscribers. Just also some background, she's a pretty big talent
herself. She was previously on SourceFed and RoosterTeeth.
So, she definitely has a name online. Christopher Giles drove over 700 miles
from Albuquerque to where Free and Turney live in Austin, Texas. Police also said
notes in Giles' phone identified the couple by name and included the sentence,
"I want Gavin Free to die alone, with no children." Gavin Free is the co-creator of
The Slo Mo Guys, a channel with over 10 million subscribers. He's also worked for
RoosterTeeth for years and starred in the movie Lazer Team.
Neither Meg or Gavin have commented publicly on the story thus far.
Prominent YouTube stars have increasingly become the target of
demented fans. Logan Paul recently called police after he discovered an intruder
sitting on his couch, charging his phone. "We are gonna press
charges. We're gonna beef up our security. We're
getting armed security now, and we're increasing the cameras around our house.
We're doubling basically, so we'll have like 40 cameras around the property,
because this sh*t ain't cool. And, of course, the most prominent and tragic of these
stories is the shooting of Christina Grimmie while she was signing autographs
after a concert in Orlando. We know that the suspect walked up and shot Christina.
At that point we know that her brother tackled the suspect and that's when the
suspect shot himself. I think people are surprised when this happens to a social
media star because this might otherwise happen to a traditional star and we're
like, "Oh. That makes sense. They're a big movie star or TV star," but
it's actually not surprising considering how much digital talent put their lives
out there for everyone to see at every point. And if anything, it makes it more
scary the possibilities of that. For me personally I put my life out there on
social media, I'm dating a "YouTuber," so this definitely hits closer to home. The
more things like this happen that are in our community, it makes us
all question what we do and how we do it. In the end, if you put yourself out there
as a public figure, your public, and there's always gonna be crazy people out
there. Just be aware and be responsible. And a lot of other YouTubers are
reaching out to Meg and Gavin on social media to show support.
Keaton writes: "My heart goes out to @megturney and @GavinFree as another victim
to social media realism/home invasion. Please do not come to my house
or anyone you enjoy online. Meetups like VidCon are cool, but this is our personal
space." Steve Zaragoza adds: "I love you both. A lot." Obviously, our thoughts go out
to both Meg and Gavin, and we hope you're doing well. We're here for you. So do you
think online fandom is going too far, and do you think YouTubers are giving up
their privacy by sharing too much with their fans? Let us know in the COMMENTS
below, and be sure to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE for more of What's Trending.