A YouTube prankster who was shot by one his targets told jurors Tuesday he had no inkling he had scared or angered the man who fired on him as the prank was recorded.
Tanner Cook, whose “Classified Goons” channel on YouTube has more than 55,000 subscribers, testified nonchalantly about the shooting at start of the trial for 31-year-old Alan Colie, who’s charged with aggravated malicious wounding and two firearms counts.
The April 2 shooting at the food court in Dulles Town Center, about 45 minutes west of Washington, D.C., set off a panic as shoppers fled what they feared to be a mass shooting.
Jurors also saw video of the shooting, recorded by Cook’s associates. The two interacted for less than 30 seconds. Video shows Cook approaching Colie, a DoorDash driver, as he picked up an order. The 6-foot-5 (1.95-meter-tall) Cook looms over Colie while holding a cellphone about 6 inches (15 centimeters) from Colie’s face. The phone broadcasts the phrase “Hey dips—-, quit thinking about my twinkle” multiple times through a Google Translate app.
On the video, Colie says “stop” three different times and tries to back away from Cook, who continues to advance. Colie tries to knock the phone away from his face before pulling out a gun and shooting Cook in the lower left chest.
Cook, 21, testified Tuesday that he tries to confuse the targets of his pranks for the amusement of his online audience. He said he doesn’t seek to elicit fear or anger, but acknowledged his targets often react that way.
Asked why he didn’t stop the prank despite Colie’s repeated requests, Cook said he “almost did” but not because he sensed fear or anger from Colie. He said Colie simply wasn’t exhibiting the type of reaction Cook was looking for.
“There was no reaction,” Cook said.
In opening statements, prosecutors urged jurors to set aside the off-putting nature of Cook’s pranks.
“It was stupid. It was silly. And you may even think it was offensive,” prosecutor Pamela Jones said. “But that’s all it was — a cellphone in the ear that got Tanner shot.”
Defense attorney Tabatha Blake said her client didn’t have the benefit of knowing he was a prank victim when he was confronted with Cook’s confusing behavior.
She said the prosecution’s account of the incident “diminishes how unsettling they were to Mr. Alan Colie at the time they occurred.”
In the video, before the encounter with Colie, Cook and his friends can be heard workshopping the phrase they want to play on the phone. One of the friends urges that it be “short, weird and awkward.”
Cook’s “Classified Goons” channel is replete with repellent stunts, like pretending to vomit on Uber drivers and following unsuspecting customers through department stores. At a preliminary hearing, sheriff’s deputies testified that they were well aware of Cook and have received calls about previous stunts. Cook acknowledged during cross-examination Tuesday that mall security had tossed him out the day prior to the shooting as he tried to record pranks and that he was trying to avoid security the day he targeted Colie.
Jury selection took an entire day Monday, largely because of publicity the case received in the area. At least one juror said during the selection process that she herself had been a victim of one of Cook’s videos.
Cook said he continues to make the videos and earns $2,000 or $3,000 a month. His subscriber base increased from 39,000 before the shooting to 55,000 after.
Damn, he missed.
He eliminated the threat. That I can agree with. Training says shot center of mass until the threat is gone.
Unlike you and all your upvoters, I’m glad the shit bag is still alive.
I’m glad the real victim didn’t so something stupid (but maybe understandable in a high-enough threat posture) of shooting again; that would have made his defense much more difficult.
One shot was all that was needed. Heck even if he had missed, that would likely have been all that was needed since I assume (a risk I know) fuck bag prankster has at least enough self-preservation brain cells to un-ass from the scene once the loud bangs start to happen.
If you’re response to a prank is to pull out a gun and shoot someone, you belong in a psychiatric ward away from people bcz that mentality gets people killed.
It’s not like he realized it’s a prank and then shot the person…
He had no idea what was going on and a large man was shoving a phone into his face and following him…
No one thinks a shooting is justified for “a prank” but when all a person knows is someone is shoving something in your face and acting aggressive…
It’s not hard to imagine they panic.
The “pranker” is literally trying to make a person panic.
And when people panic, sometimes they do dumb shit
How does a functional adult not understand that?
I can totally see how one would be freaked out by a larger man acting erratically. Without knowing it was a prank it sounds rather like he was drugged or something. Depending on what drugs he was he could be dangerous.
When you set your boundaries clearly and the person doesn’t respond to it, and continue harassing you while acting erratically… sounds like self-defense to me.
Isn’t that why the amis walk around with guns anyway?
Everyone sucks here.
The prankster is harassing and intimidating people in public to make money. I hope he learned a lesson.
The shooter probably did have good cause to use physical force to defend himself. Had he punched the prankster or used pepper spray, I’d call it 100% justified. He used a gun though, and this harassment didn’t justify deadly force.
No one thinks a shooting is justified for “a prank”
Nah there’s definitely people saying that.
First of all, it’s your* response.
Second of all, it depends of the prank. Did you not read the article? The “victim of the prank” doesn’t have the benefit of knowing it’s a prank while being pranked.
And this is not some silly string prank on your face. It’s some dude who’s taller than you, trying to put a phone on you. You don’t know what people have been going through to just bug them like that and expect no consequence. What if the person received a death threat that very morning, for example?
If your idea of a prank is to physically intimidate strangers by getting into their personal space and harassing them when they say to stop, then you are an asshole.
If your day consists of pranking unsuspecting people, knowingly causing anger and anxiety, then you belong in a psychiatric ward away from people because that mentality gets people killed.
I haven’t watched the video, but I bet it’s fairly clear if the target of the prank felt threatened or just annoyed.
Either way, crazy gun owners exist. It’s one of the many reasons you should not try to prank or annoy strangers for fun and profit. You might get shot, and nobody is going to feel sorry for you.
Ok, but how would you know it was a prank? If you have someone who has suddenly entered into your personal space exhibiting erratic but persistent confrontational behavior, I think there’s some justification towards reacting with violence. I dont think most of us are conditioned or trained to react to threatening behavior in the most effective way, like cops and military are. So that means flight, freeze, or fight. You don’t have the benefit of knowing it was a prank, you just have a situation rapidly unfolding in front of you. Unfortunately in this situation Colie was armed, and responded with that measure. I think most of people would be ok if the response was just a phsyical fight without a gun, but then again how many people have the capability to “win” that way?
So throw a punch, or shove him. You seriously think shooting someone is an acceptable response?
I agree with you but find it funny you included cops in the “conditioned or trained to react to behavior in the most effective way.” An American cop would have also shot the prankster and would probably have emptied his whole clip into him as well.
Sure, not saying what the prankster did was right. But pulling a gun on him is escalation beyond what a reasonable person would do.
It’s sad that this article reads like advertising for a shit head to attract other shit heads (how many times did they call out his show?). He’ll come out of this better off financially.
Because they are just reporting on facts that give context the entire situation.
This story sums up America. Stupidity and guns.
The pranks in America are lame. Over in Europe you can literally threaten someone with a giant hammer (as a prank of course) and get away with it.
I think there are maybe two times in my life I’ve been pro-second amendment, and watching that video just now is one of them.
That guy, threatening multiple people with what anyone with eyes would see as an extremely open murder threat? Often with a fake body to demonstrate their life actually is actively at stake in this moment? You can shoot that guy.
That clown-thing is one of the worst ‘pranks’ I’ve ever seen in my life. Someone could easily get PTSD from that, or someone else could easily assault the clown with lethal force because of the threat implied.
Good pranks are along the lines of the Just for Laughs / Gags series, not these dumbass American vigilante pranks, or that miserable ‘clown’ prank above.
I’m not a proponent of violence, but I think these dipshits need to get their asses beaten every time they do that shit. Maybe, if more of them got beaten or shot, then they would stop being ass fucks.
I shouldn’t have to be forced to figure out whether someone is a crazy, drug induced murderer, or just some stupid “prankster” every time I go out in public. Rule number 1 in a society is “don’t fuck with strangers”.
You can think that violence is abhorrent and also understand that it might be the quickest, simplest way to settle a matter. Adults can think two things at once. Crazy, I know.
Adults can think two things at once. Crazy, I know.
We used to call that doublethink. Now we call it the right-wing.
“Violence is abhorrent, except when it’s against people I don’t like”, got it.
The latter implies being a proponent. Let’s not move goal posts because we think we’re the “good guy”. Hint: you’re not.
Nah. You can be anti-violence, pro-violence, or understand that violence is acceptable only as a means to achieving a desired result, oftentimes as a last resort.
Both the first and third options are not proponents of violence, but the third understands it is a necessity to achieve their goals at times. This is literally heavily discussed now as fascists try to paint anti-fascists as the violent ones when anti-fascists merely understand violence as the means to a goal in this case and not their normal path to a goal.
Hey, this is skirting pretty close to actually being a proponent of violence. Yeah, we all hate internet pranksters who annoy people for views, but that’s not a crime that deserves a death sentence.
The dumbass didn’t die. Shoving a phone that’s playing some dumbass confusing phrase, 6 inches from someone’s face, who is just trying to do his job, is assault. Most counties allow you to defend yourself if someone is assaulting you. Most states provide worker protections that provide extra penalties for harassing or assaulting employees. But I guess Uber Eats drivers don’t get those protections since they’re technically not employees. Weeee.
You’re right, he didn’t die. But if “more of them got beaten or shot” someone would. There has to be a better way to force asshole pranksters to stop besides shooting them.
Look, I’m not defending this idiot, he makes a living out of being a complete wanker to strangers, and this was a predictable outcome. I just don’t wish him dead for it. Much rather see him taken to court and deprived of his ability to make a living doing this shit.