Ohio Dad
After firing, the Grove City father set his weapon on the counter and surrendered to police by phone, court records show Matt Van Swol/X

An Ohio father who posed as his 11-year-old daughter on TikTok to lure and shoot the man accused of raping her is now being held on a $100,000 (£74,300) bond, higher than the one set for the alleged predator.

The gap has fuelled a national debate over self-defence and vigilante justice, with viral posts on TikTok and X arguing that the parent who pulled the trigger faces harsher treatment than the man charged with abusing a child.

How a Father's TikTok Trap Ended in Gunfire

Malik Chandler, 31, of Grove City, was charged with one count of felonious assault after shooting a man twice outside his Parlin Drive home on 16 July, according to court records. The confrontation came less than a day after police were called to the same address, when the child's mother reported finding a video on her daughter's phone that appeared to show the girl being sexually assaulted at home.

Court records show Chandler began messaging the man on TikTok while posing as his daughter and arranged for him to return. He told detectives he intended to beat the man, hold him, and wait for officers. When the man arrived and reached into his pocket, Chandler said he feared a gun and fired. He then set the weapon down and surrendered by phone.

Why His Bond Sits Above the Suspect's

A judge set Chandler's bond at $100,000. The man he shot, 20-year-old Diego Montoya Gonzalez, was later indicted by a Franklin County grand jury on two counts of rape, five counts of pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor, and one count of obstructing official business. Both men now face separate felony cases in the same courthouse.

Court records show Gonzalez received a $20,000 (£14,800) personal bond and a $50,000 (£37,000) cash bond, half the cash figure Chandler must post. Gonzalez pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors allege investigators found several videos of child sexual abuse on his phone, including footage of an infant or toddler. The accusations against both men remain allegations.

What Ohio's Self-Defence Law Actually Says

The case turns on whether Chandler faced an immediate threat or engineered the confrontation himself. Under Ohio Revised Code Section 2901.05, once a defendant offers evidence of self-defence, prosecutors must disprove it beyond reasonable doubt. A separate provision, Section 2901.09, scrapped the traditional duty to retreat in many circumstances.

That planning could weaken his claim. Ohio's law tends to protect people who face a sudden threat, not those who arrange a meeting that ends in violence. Whether Chandler's account of a suspect reaching for a weapon holds up may decide the case.

A Complicated Portrait Behind the Outrage

Much of the online reaction has cast Chandler as a protective father pushed to breaking point. Court records add friction to that picture. He was charged in 2021 with strangling his live-in girlfriend until she lost consciousness, though that case was later dismissed.

While police initially treated the investigations separately, grand jury indictments have since directly connected the shooting to the abuse allegations.

Chandler remains in custody. His case is due to move through Franklin County Common Pleas Court in the coming weeks, where a jury may finally weigh whether a father's response crossed from protection into a crime.

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