What started as a 13-year-old girl's coronavirus lockdown project turned into a deadly shootout at her home when a stalker took his obsession to near-lethal extremes.
Ava Majury, now 15, is a TikTok star with more than 1 million followers. One of those followers, an individual using the name EricJustin11 – real name Eric Rohan Justin, 18 – became dangerously obsessed with her.
In an interview with The New York Times, Ms Majury's family recounted a terrifying encounter in 2020 involving the stalker and an armed home invasion.
Justin began interacting with Ms Majury in early 2020, sending her Snapchat and Instagram messages and joining online video games she was playing with her brothers.
Over time, Justin's obsession with the girl became worrying. She learned that her hometown friends in Naples, Florida, were selling the man photos of her and other information, including her cellphone number.
Justin began calling and texting her, and even agreed to do one of her classmate's math homework in exchange for information about Ms Majury.
“I had to unfollow all my local friends and Jersey friends,” she told The New York Times. “And everyone around me was like, ‘Oh you’re going Hollywood on all of us, you don’t want to talk to us anymore.’ And I’m like, ‘You’re selling my stuff.’”
Eventually Justin asked Ms Majury if she would sell him selfie photos. She consulted her parents, and they allowed her to do so, noting that the photos were already available online.
Ms Majury said she never sent any photos of her body, just her face, which she claims is the crux of her brand.
“It was just pictures of my face, which is what I assume that he was paying for. My whole thing is my pretty smile — that’s my content,” she said.
Eventually the pair agreed to a price, and Ms Majury sold Justin two photos for around $300.
After that exchange things began to take an uncomfortable turn for the teen; Justin began asking her to send "booty pics" and shots of her feet. She said he wanted "stuff that a 14-year-old shouldn't be sending," especially to an adult.
Ms Majury blocked Justin on all of her accounts. He responded by desperately pleading with her to unblock him, even sending her over $500 along with the message "sorry this is all I have left I'm broke."
Ms Majury's father then texted Justin, telling him that his daughter was a minor and demanding that the 18-year-old stop texting her.
The demand did not deter Justin. He contacted one of Ms Majury's male classmates to ask if he had access to a gun, and shared his plans to assault her. Justin said he thought he could "just breach the door with a shotgun."
When Ms Majury found out about the messages, she reached out to her classmate, who confirmed the conversation happened.
Mr Majury tried to reassure his daughter that Justin was just " one of these keyboard cowboys," noting that he lived hundreds of miles away.
He underestimated Justin's obsession.
On 10 July, Justin arrived at Ms Majury's home, entered, 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,” she told The Times.
Ms Majury fled her room through a connecting bathroom into her brother's room.
Her father heard the blast and left his bedroom, running into the hallway to help his children while his wife called 911. When he arrived at his daughter's room, he saw Justin dressed in safety glasses, an orange Walmart worker's vest, and protective earplugs.
Justin ran to escape with Mr Majury in pursuit. Before he could catch Justin, he hit his knee, cutting it open, allowing Justin to escape the house.
At that point Mr Majury armed himself with his personal handgun and stood at the house's front door waiting for the police to arrive.
Meanwhile, Ms Majury was huddled inside the house with her family. Her brother, Evan, furious that they were under assault because a man had become obsessed with the videos of his sister singing and dancing, turned to Ms Majury and said "this is all your fault”.
Back at the front door, Mr Majury waited with his firearm. The police had yet to arrive when Justin returned with his shotgun.
Mr Majury reportedly told the man to drop his weapon, but Justin refused and aimed his shotgun. Mr Majury then shot and killed the teenager.
When police searched Justin's body, they found he was carrying two cellphones, each of which were filled with thousands of pictures of Ms Majury and hundreds of hours of her videos.
Justin's father, Justin Dominic, had moved back to his home country of India after a divorce from the teenager's mother. He described his son as a "nice kid," saying he was "at a loss for words”.
"I don't know what went bad with him," Mr Dominic said. "He made a bad choice."
The family was eventually asked to leave their home by their Home Owner's Association as their daughter's social media presence was the catalyst for a deadly encounter in the neighbourhood.
While the threat Justin posed is no longer present, others continue to plague the family. A registered sex offender contacted Ms Majury offering to pay her $1,000 a month for her phone number, calling her "baby girl”.
The male student who Justin contacted also allegedly has been following Ms Majury around and watching her. Another classmate sent Ms Majury a video the student made of himself firing a gun at a shooting range.
Ms Majury eventually left public school and is now being homeschooled.
Despite all of the danger, threats and negative attention she has received, Ms Majury remains on TikTok, a decision her parents support.
“We chose what’s best for our family,” her mother, Kim Majury, said. “We know there are going to be two sides, and some people won’t understand.’’
Her father agreed.
“I think we just had to allow her to make a decision and sort of support her," he said. "I think it’s going to help her heal. It sounds corny, but I don’t know what else you would do it for.”
Ms Majury admits that part of the draw for her to stay on social media is the money; she makes thousands from her videos, much of which comes from branded promotions. But her presence has also earned her the interest of reality television producers and has allowed her to meet and collaborate with other influencers and internet celebrities.
“Most people would say the money. And yeah, it’s a huge benefit. But it’s the experience. I got to go to LA, the people that I met,” she said. “Just being able to make other people smile is what I like, the enjoyment of seeing the impact I made on some people’s lives."
