Why Fayetteville, North Carolina’s Eric Shane Cahoon went viral

Eric Shane Cahoon, 41, is a native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States. He was the aggressor in the viral video taken at the Food Lion grocery store in the 3000 block of Hope Mills Road in Hope Mills, North Carolina in the afternoon of July 23, 2020.

When Cahoon went to the store that day, he was not wearing a face mask as required by the government due to the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. With an American flag bandanna around his head, he was wearing a black backpack, white sleeveless shirt, khaki shorts, white socks and white rubbers shoes with black accents.

Cahoon called an African-American employee of the Food Lion grocery store the N-word several times and told the employee to “man up” and “go ahead and touch me.” Two white employees tried to intervene.

Later, an African American female customer ran her cart between Cahoon and the employee and raised her arm to protect the latter. The Fayetteville native continued to berate the employee into the frozen foods section until a manager got involved and instructed the employee to go to the back.

Cahoon’s racist rant at the Food Lion grocery store was recorded via a Facebook live video of his fellow customer Shakihla Keke Simmons, who told him, “Don’t touch him, baby, please don’t touch him.” He yelled “f— you” and complained about wearing a face mask before leaving the store.

On July 27, 2020, Cahoon was arrested by Hope Mills Police Department officers. He was charged with one count of ethnic intimidation, disorderly conduct by abusive language, communicating threats, intoxicated and disruptive behavior and second-degree trespassing.

Cahoon was held at the Cumberland County Detention Center in Fayetteville. His bail was set at $1,000.