Armed Fan Invades YouTube Stars’ Home [Update]

YouTube stars Megan Turney and Gavin Free were forced to hide in their closet and call 911 last month after a fan armed with a handgun invaded their home and fired “at least one round inside the house”. He was then shot dead by police in the couple’s driveway.

The Albuquerque Journal reportsthat the intruder Christopher Giles—described by police as “single, lonely and disturbed”—drove 11 hours from New Mexico to the couple’s home in Austin after growing infatuated with Turney’s YouTube videos. Turney and Free were woken at 3:40am on January 26 by “the sound of breaking glass and a gunshot”.

While Giles searched the house for the couple, they hid in their bedroom closet and called 911. Giles, unable to find Turney and Free, returned to his car and attempted to drive off. While still in the driveway, however, Austin Police arrived and “ordered him to stop”.

A gunshot was then heard from inside the car, with Giles later pronounced dead with “a .45 caliber handgun near his hand”. While an official cause of death has not been announced, a “preliminary postmortem examination by the Travis County Medical Examiner found that Giles may have shot himself.”

UPDATE – 7:38pm: KXAN subsequently report that, contrary to that preliminary examination, it was in fact police who killed Giles.

Two officers arrived at the home one minute after the 911 caller heard the gunshots. As they approached the home, Giles was about to drive off when they gave him commands to stop. At that time, police say Giles, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, shot at the officers. Officer Matthew Jackson returned gunfire, striking the suspect. The suspect died at the scene. No officers were injured.

An Austin detective wrote in court documents, obtained by The Albuquerque Journal, that “A search of Giles’ cellular phone identified various notations identifying Megan Turney and Gavin Free by name. Furthermore, threatening thoughts were recorded by Giles and directed toward Gavin Free, i.e., ‘I want Gavin Free to die alone, with no children.’”

Detectives searching Giles’ home say he was “an avid player of video games and was known for watching YouTube videos that were centered on his hobby.” They seized a number of items (“two cellphones, a laptop, two tablets and an XBox gaming system”) as evidence, and “believe that evidence related to the planned burglary and homicides of Megan Turney and Gavin Free will be found.”

Neither Turney or Free were harmed during the incident.

Turney is a cosplayer and former Rooster Teeth host with a popular YouTube channel, while Free is the co-creator of TheSlow Mo Guys (and also appears regularly in Rooster Teeth programs).