A 15-year-old TikTok star had a run-in with the dark side of fame when her father shot dead an armed stalker who invaded their house.
Ava Majury - who has over a million followers on the social media platform - spoke about the scary experience in an interview with The New York Times.
When she started sharing clips of herself dancing on TikTok over lockdown, Ava began to interact with one of her followers, 18-year-old Eric Rohan Justin.
As Justin's obsession grew, he moved on from commenting on her posts to sending her Snapchat and Instagram messages, and even joining online video games where she was playing with her brothers.
When he began asking her to send him "booty pics" and photos of her feet, Ava said enough was enough and blocked him from all her accounts. He responded by pleading with her and even sending her $500 to try to regain access to her content.
At this point, Ava's dad got involved, sending Justin a message in which he demanded that the teen stop harassing his underage daughter.
But Justin was not deterred, and on July 10 2020 he showed up at Ava's house, broke in, and blew a hole in her bedroom door with a shotgun.
"All I remember was, I heard it, I felt it in my chest, and I looked up, and there was a hole in my door from the fragments," Ava told The New York Times.
She went on to relay how she fled into her brother's bedroom while her father chased Justin out of the house. The family called 911, but before police could arrive Justin returned wielding his gun - and Ava's father shot him dead.
When police searched Justine's body they found two phones, each with thousands of photos of Ava saved on them.
Meanwhile, despite the danger his online presence has posed to her family, Ava continues to post on TikTok - a decision her parents support.
"We chose what’s best for our family. We know there are going to be two sides, and some people won’t understand," said her mother.
"I think we just had to allow her to make a decision and sort of support her," her father agreed, adding: "I think it’s going to help her heal. It sounds corny, but I don’t know what else you would do it for."
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