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.
Not annoying, threatening. Advancing despite being told to stop repeatedly is a threat.
If you'd read the article you'd know the shooter was extremely justified.
I hope Colie goes free and I hope Cook gets sued for everything he has. I don't know what you'd sue him for, but find something before he gets someone actually killed.
I think getting shot is punishment enough, but Cook should at least be banned from posting anymore pranks to his YouTube. They should really shut down his YouTube channel if we're being honest and nothing of value will be lost.
An excellent example of why a weekly range day is important.
Fuck all that. Attitudes like that are why Americans think they can just blast away. You won't see my pistol until I'm certain killing you is my very last resort. And if I pull it, it's because I mean to use it.
Did this idiot think his life was in danger from an annoying man with a cell phone, in the middle of a fucking food court?! No. He used his gun as a "get off of me" tool. He's damned lucky Cook survived.
EDIT: I seriously hope some of you people do not conceal carry. The comments here are terrifying and completely ignorant of case law, attitudes comprised only of feels.
So you're going to wait until you're hit/shot to try and pull your gun out?
The only more escalatory thing the YouTuber could have done is actually hit the guy. This is exactly when you need to have your gun out.
The aggressor was a loud-mouthed bully in a very public place. I've dealt with these assholes since elementary school in the 70s. They're cowards, one and all. Perhaps such behavior is more threatening to younger folks? I gather kids don't get their ass beat on the regular in school any longer? In any case, I think I would have instantly known what I was looking at.
Also, seems the bully didn't speak any "fighting words", and that may be key. OTOH, Virginia holds no duty to retreat. Feels like thin legal ice for the shooter.
And no, I'm not giving him the chance to hit me. I'm hyper aware of my ability to draw. If I felt that option was about to be taken from me? Yeah, that almost certainly would have crossed the line.
He could very well think that. One friend of mine gets a fraid for his saftey if protest is in the area. I have scared the shit out of people by just walking near them.
Now in the era of mass shooting would i be afraid that some ahole came up to like would i think this is a prelude to getting shot. I might honestly think that
Lmao. Cops shoot people who just ignore them and get a vacation. This guy has a stranger in his face suddenly who won't leave him alone and keeps getting closer despite repeated commands not to and you think he has no right?
Fuck cops and fuck people who support shooting people because they're scared. You're no better than cop aoplogists.
Cops have no right either, often. They get away with it because they are cops. This guy isn't getting away with it, nor should he. Just because the system lets off corrupt cops doesn't mean it let's everyone off.
I know he doesn't have a right to self defense here because I passed my first year courses in law school.
Seems these people are forgetting this was in a, presumably crowded, food court, and not a dark alley. Shooter is on very thin legal ice, very thin.
Also, seems some of these folks don't have experience with the garden variety bully. This wasn't some madman running up on the shooter, this was a bigger guy clearly trying to get a reaction.
If the aggressor had spoken any "fighting words", and yes that's a legal term, I might well have shot him. That does not seem to have been the case.
What is in the water in Virginia? The video should have killed this case dead. Continuing to advance after being commanded to stop is literally a text book self defense case. Especially when you add in the delivery driver job (one of the most dangerous jobs in the US for violent robbery and car jacking) and the specific intent to disorient and confuse.
That's tailor made to elicit a fight or flight response in any reasonable person.
(Before anyone asks for statistics, delivery drivers make up 1/5th of US work place fatalities according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Yeah I do believe in a duty to retreat but if I saw someone workshopping ways to confuse me with a group of people and refusing my demands to stop harassing me, while they advanced in a bizarre fashion I’d be looking for a clear path to retreat and reaching for my knife. That behavior is unpredictable, invasive, and demonstrates refusal to respect pearly stated boundaries. I’m not one of those paranoid people who doesn’t go anywhere without a gun or anything but there’s no way I’d feel safe in that scenario. I wouldn’t even consider that YouTube prankster is a job some people have, I’d be much more afraid he’s going for my purse or worse.
And as for the lack of fear, yeah every self defense lesson I’ve had has taught to show no fear nor aggression, you firmly demand the aggressor to back away while looking for an out by which to flee.
These prank channels should be completely demonetized to remove the incentive of doing stupid shit like this in the first place.
No shit curse first 10 seconds get demonetized. Terrorize some one and you can earn 3k a month. YouTube should remove his channel and if they don't get fucking sue to for allowing the content.
Fucking shooter a hero and stood his ground prankster should apologize and be greatful he isn't dead.
Because as any train gun owner knows your not supposed to pull your gun unless it shoot to kill.
While I agree the YouTube kid kind of got what was coming to him, the shooter isn't a straight up hero.
As annoying as this kid was it doesn't sound like he ever touched the guy. I would completely understand the shooter shoving, punching, or even using mace/taser on the YouTube guy, but jumping straight to shooting someone over that is just a bit unhinged behavior, at least in my opinion.
I am not against CCW or self defense or anything, but the shooter definitely went overboard, and I wouldn't be surprised if he is found guilty in the court case.
Yeah, weird take that annoying somebody or even getting up in their face is grounds for execution. Get security, get the cops, whatever. They weren't in any danger. They were just scared.
People get scared because they think they are in danger. The delivery driver didn't know where things were going to stop in this encounter, and I don't blame him one bit for putting a stop to it before he got beaten or stabbed.
But if the delivery driver wasn't scared it wouldn't have been a fun prank for mr 6 foot 5 and his dimwit subscribers. He relies on intimidation to get away with his shenanigans, if he wasn't so physically threatening he would have had his ass beat before now, and deservedly so. Fuck that guy.
Sounds like a good case of “fuck around and find out” to me. Acting aggressively and being a douche just to get views on YouTube is a good way to get shot. Especially when the shooter specifically asked him to stop several times. I really do not like douche nozzles like this guy.
The prankster evidently has some fans here on lemmy, if this thread is any indication. Bummer. I was hoping lemmy wouldn't attract people that insufferably stupid.
Do I think he deserved to be shot? No. Do I understand it? Absolutely.
I was hoping lemmy wouldn’t attract people that insufferably stupid.
I mean, most the people here are refugees from reddit so you shouldn't expect much intelligence.
I'm already seeing a shit ton of stupid reddit-humor and fantasy-land explanations.
I fucking HATE "pranksters. He shouldve shit him to death.
Cholera has entered the chat
Not even Putin?
That's why you don't stick around after popping him
You don't have to claim anything if you're gone
Would this have even made trial in a state with "Stand Your Ground" laws?
Only in america is it legal and normal to attempt to murder someone for :checks notes: holding your phone near them.
Spamming the same article around is cool, but is this really news?
The voting ratio seems to indicate that yes, this is in fact considered a relevant news item by the community but you can and should downvote it if you disagree. Now that we've cleared that up, do you have anything to contribute to the discussion or are you just here to whine because I posted an article in two relevant communities?
Why do I feel more sympathy for the shooter then? Let me explain myself. I don't condone his actions, but here's the thing.. You have no idea what a stranger is going through in their life. No idea what trauma lies in their past. Going up to strangers and trying to provoke them could yield wildly different responses from person to person, and in the world we live in that could easily involve anger. Some people are barely holding it together and all they need is a jarring incident like this to make them snap. The shooter didn't provoke this situation. Yes he reacted poorly, but the entire thing would have been avoided if the brain dead YouTuber wasn't going around trying to elicit a response for clicks.
Move away from him more quickly, call security, call the police, ask bystanders for help. How is discharging a firearm in a food court a justified response to an unarmed pest? You are exactly the sort of person who should not carry a firearm.
Seek help.
Because in America, shooting someone is more socially acceptable than being an annoying twat.
Righrt, no idea about trauma. If the dude can't handle someone annoying him in a food court at the mall without resorting to attempted murder, jail is where he belongs, maybe a psych hospital.
This isn't just "someone annoying him", the harasser is a 6'5" dude who walked up to within inches of the shooter, then when the shooter told him to get back and started backing away himself, continued to close the distance. This is open and shut self defense, you don't get to hunt someone down like that, staying in their personal space, and expect them to not feel threatened. YOU would feel threatened and if you're telling me otherwise, I have a friend named Billy Bob who'd like to stand silently in your personal space for the remainder of the year.
Know what my conceal carry instructor told us? If you shoot somebody, you better have made the calculation that spending your life in a concrete and steel box is the better outcome, because that might just be the case.
The person who shot did it directly, without actually showing what was he carrying. Just showing the gun would have had a better effect with no injuries and no arrest, and that already is going over the top.
You are an asshole for defending getting hurt for this. I want to assume you would not be so eager to go against the kid if it was your family member.
Yeah, I can't believe that while being threatened by a large, erratically acting man, he didn't think to calmly try to defuse the situation/s
Are you kidding? Showing the gun to an attacker who is far larger than you is a ridiculous idea. They will just wrestle the gun away. This poor driver got scared out of his wits by a total human trash can who refused to stop when asked. That’s basically rape—of the mind.
He was attacked. And he defended himself. The YouTuber should be in jail for harassment.
What world are you living in? Lmfao.
And in what backwards world are you living where someone had to risk his life for this. The prankster should be punished for harassment, but doesn't leave the fact that someone SHOT HIM FOR THAT. Nobody should be shot in a situation like this, period.
Just showing the gun is called brandishing and is illegal. You don’t announce you have a weapon before you shoot someone because you could get shot if you do.
You are an asshole defending an asshole.
Just showing the gun is legally perilous. It's a felony called brandishing and diminishes a self defense case. According to the laws and court rulings you are supposed to to keep it holstered until you need it.
It's legal to brandish your weapon in self-defense.
If it's legal to shoot someone in a certain self-defense situation, it would also be considered legal to brandish a firearm instead.
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He wasn't giving me material for my viewers, so I kept annoying him until he shot me! Why is this my fault?!
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