- Ava Majury is a 15-year-old TikToker whose father shot and killed her alleged stalker in July 2021.
- Last month, Majury testified against a second man she said stalked her. The case was dismissed.
In 2021, 15-year-old Florida-based TikToker Ava Majury made headlines when her father shot and killed a man she said was stalking her after he showed up at their front door. A year later, on March 28, 2022, Majury testified against a second person she accused of harassing her online and stalking her.
Majury, who has 1.2 million
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♬ original sound - Aboogielations
The case, and the events leading up to it, have been widely reported, tracing the 15-year-old's journey from teen TikTok star to alleged stalking victim. Despite her tumultuous years as an influencer, Majury said she has no plans to quit social media.
Here is a
The TikToker started making videos in 2020 when she was 13 years old
Majury moved to Naples, Florida, from New Jersey with her parents and two brothers in 2019, according to The New York Times.
She joined TikTok in April 2020 and was best known for dancing and lip-syncing — one of the earliest popular formats on the app. The Times reported that she gained a million TikTok followers within a year, and 75% of them were male.
@imnotavamajury von you better not touch him
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In a February 2022 interview, Majury told The Times' Elizabeth Williamson that she was able to make around $1,000 for a single paid promotional video on her main account. According to Majury's managers, she also posts under two other accounts. None of the three profiles have been verified by TikTok as belonging to Majury, but a representative from her law firm confirmed to Insider they were owned by her.
Majury began posting on Instagram in August 2020, gaining 130,000 followers within a month according to analytics tracker SocialBlade. Majury now has 327,000 Instagram followers. This account is also not verified by Instagram, but her a representative from Majury's legal team confirmed to Insider this account also belonged to her.
In July 2021, Majury's father shot and killed a man who came to their home
Lanny J Davis, legal advisor to the Majury family, told Insider that in early 2021, the TikToker noticed that an individual with the username EricJustin111 was messaging her on Snapchat and Instagram. Davis said she would occasionally reply to him, as she did with other fans.
According to an Instagram statement uploaded to an account under Majury's name in February 2022, the individual started "harassing" her online after a few months, so she sent him "2 to 3" Snapchat photos for $5 each over the space of a month because she thought this would end the harassment. She said he then asked for explicit images, so she blocked him.
The Majury family told The Times that on July 10, 2021, the fan, who has since been identified as Eric Rohan Justin and was 18 at the time, flew from his home in Elliot City, Maryland, to Majury's Florida address. They also said he had a shotgun.
Police did not disclose details of the incident at the time. The Times reported in February 2022 that Justin "arrived with a shotgun at the Majury family home in Naples and blew open the front door. His weapon jammed; Ava's father, Rob Majury, a retired police lieutenant, chased him off but fell."
Rob told the Collier County Sherriff's office that he decided to stand guard at the front door, and when Justin returned, he shot and killed him, according to The Times.
Rob Majury was not prosecuted for
A 2020 US Civil Rights Commission report on the law found that similar legislation, sometimes referred to as a "Castle Doctrine," has been passed in at least 22 other states, and remains controversial. The Florida statute drew particular criticism in 2013 when George Zimmerman was found not guilty of murder after fatally shooting 17-year-old Trayvon Martin (although whether the law itself was responsible for his acquittal is disputed).
As previously reported by Insider, Majury continued to post on TikTok the day after the shooting, before taking a five-day break from uploading.
Majury said she was also stalked by a different person who went to her school
In their interview with The Times, Ava's parents said they pulled Majury, now 15, out of school due to concerns about a second person she accused of stalking her, who they say was communicating with Justin around the time the shooting took place.
In December 2021, Majury told her parents the person had started watching and following her. Davis told Insider that the unnamed juvenile posted a video on his Snapchat account, which Majury could view, that showed him firing a gun at a shooting range. Davis said the video made Majury "fearful," and she decided to leave school.
The Majury family filed a petition in Collier County Court seeking an injunction against stalking, and a hearing was set for February 28, 2022, according to Fox News.
Majury's case against the second individual was dismissed in court on March 28, 2022
Majury's hearing took place on March 28, and the 15-year-old testified against the individual she accused of stalking her, saying she was "terrified" because he was "was always behind" or near her during the fall semester at school, Fox News reported.
According to Fox News, Majury testified she believed the individual was on speaking terms with Justin prior to his death. She said she sometimes asked the second individual to send her information about Justin. She added that he had sent her screenshots of his conversations with Justin, one of which contained a grape emoji in a message from Justin reading "I want to [emoji] her bro." She said the emoji is sometimes used by young people to mean "rape."
The individual's attorney argued there was no case for stalking because he was voluntarily communicating with Majury at her request, according to Fox News. At the end of the hearing, the judge dismissed the case.
Davis, who was present in the court during the hearing, told Insider the Majury family do not intend on taking any further legal action.
Majury wants to continue posting on social media
Davis told Insider that Majury's main TikTok account, which had 1.2 million followers, was temporarily suspended by TikTok for around two weeks, but the reasons were unclear. TikTok did not respond to Insider's request for comment, but on April 4, the account was restored.
Davis told Insider that Majury does not want the experience with Justin to "defeat her," and will continue to post on her platform with permission from her parents, who he said "support their daughter in her conviction to be a role model for clean and positive use of social media."
@avamajuryyy been a min
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In a statement to Insider, Majury said she was telling her story "so that young people and parents are also aware of the dangers of social media."
She added, "I could never have imagined my innocent posts would result in a stranger showing up at my front door with a shotgun. I urge young people and parents to immediately report any threat or signal of violence, and not wait until it's too late."
For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.