A deputy for the Medina County Sheriff’s Workplace in Texas fatally shot California-based meals influencer Michael Duarte final week, a police spokesperson confirmed to TMZ.
The outlet reported on Wednesday that Duarte, who amassed a following on social media as “FoodWithBearHands,” died Nov. 8 after deputies responded to a disturbance name in Castroville, Texas. Legislation enforcement reported to a “male topic with a knife performing erratically.” The spokesperson alleges that Duarte threatened and approached the responding deputy, and didn’t comply with quite a few “verbal instructions” to get on the bottom.
“Duarte charged towards the deputy whereas yelling, ‘I’m going to kill you,’” the spokesperson advised TMZ. The spokesperson added that the deputy fired two rounds from her “responsibility weapon” and struck Duarte. He was reportedly given medical support on the scene and transferred to a close-by hospital, the place he died. He was 39.
Neither representatives for the Medina County Sheriff’s Workplace or Duarte instantly responded to requests for affirmation on Wednesday.
Barbecue pellet firm Bear Mountain BBQ introduced Duarte’s demise on Tuesday in a joint assertion shared to his Instagram web page. A GoFundMe fundraiser created to profit his household confirms that Duarte died “in a horrible accident on Saturday” whereas he was touring in Texas, three days after he and his spouse celebrated their ninth wedding ceremony anniversary.
“The world might know him as ‘FoodwithBearHands,’ however to us, he was a loving husband, father, brother, and an excellent good friend to many,” reads the fundraiser description. “We ask that you simply elevate Michael’s household up in prayer throughout this extraordinarily tough time, particularly for his 6 yr outdated daughter Oakley, and his spouse Jessica.”
The GoFundMe seeks to boost $100,000 to assist Duarte’s household in overlaying funeral bills and “bringing him again dwelling to California.” Donors have raised greater than $65,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.
Duarte, raised within the desert city of Calipatria, started his skilled culinary profession working in a number of eating places in San Diego, he mentioned in October. He started posting movies on social media in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. After a “psychological well being disaster that led me to rehab,” Duarte continued to put up cooking movies throughout his day off, together with his first video, which featured his daughter, he mentioned.
“That’s once I realized how completely happy creating content material made me,” he wrote. “Over time, I started to see it wasn’t only a pastime — it could possibly be a enterprise, one thing greater than myself.”
Over time, he shared cooking recipes for alligator, iguana, frog legs, smoked duck and quite a lot of different dishes. His YouTube channel boasts a following of greater than 260,000 subscribers and his Instagram web page touts much more, with 845,000-plus followers.
“He had a uncommon reward for capturing the true spirit of BBQ: the smoke, the tales, the laughter, and the love for good meals that brings individuals collectively,” Bear Mountain BBQ continued its assertion.
The assertion added: “However past the work, Michael was a lot extra. A proud dad who lit up each time he spoke about his daughter. A faithful husband whose love for his household was the middle of every part he did. A great man with a beneficiant coronary heart, whose heat and kindness touched everybody he met.”
