A man has been found not guilty of aggravated malicious wounding after shooting a YouTuber who was attempting to prank him in a Virginia mall.
Alan Colie, 31, shot YouTube prankster Tanner Cook, 21, in a crowded shopping center back on April 2 at Dulles Town Center, west of Washington DC.
Cook - the mastermind behind the YouTube channel Classified Goons - often shares prank videos in which he provokes reactions from the public. On this occasion, Cook had approached Colie in the food court of the Dulles Towne Center mall. As Colie was ordering his meal, Cook started to play audio from his phone, which blasted phrases like, "Hey dips**t, quit thinking about my twinkle" via the Google Translate app.
Colie attempted to move away from Cook and asked him three times to stop. After failing to knock Cook's phone out of his hands, Colie pulled out a gun and shot the prankster in the lower chest, Sky News reports.
The confrontation - which was captured on video - lasted less than 30 seconds and depicted the 6ft 5" Cook appearing to harass Colie - a notion the jury ultimately sided with. Colie's defense attorney, Adam Pouilliard, said his client felt menaced by Cook and that the confrontation was designed to ignite a confrontation in an effort to attract viewers.
"Mr. Cook is trying to confuse people to post videos. He's not worried that he's scaring people. He keeps doing this," Pouilliard said in his closing statements.
Prosecutor Eden Homes argued that the prank - albeit bizarre - was not threatening, undermining the self-defense claim by Colie. She questioned: "They were playing a silly phrase on a phone. How could the defendant have found that he was reasonably in fear of imminent bodily harm?"
Following the shooting, mass panic spread throughout the mall and the police quickly responded.
After footage of the incident was shared on social media, many people voiced support for Colie.
"These people can’t just run around and antagonize folks like that and expect not to get shot," wrote one X (formerly known as Twitter) user. A second added: "The guy gave him every opportunity to cut it out. Said stop, tried walking away, stiff arming and yet the YouTuber kept pursuing. Got what he deserved. You go looking for trouble that’s what you get."
Despite being acquitted of aggravated malicious wounding, the jury was split on two lesser firearms charges - convicting him on one and acquitting him on the other.
Mr. Pouilliard argued that the conviction on the firearms charge is incongruent with the law, given Colie’s acquittal on self-defense grounds, and has requested the judge to consider this condition. The case continues to unravel as a judge is set to hear arguments on this contentious issue next month.
Cook has stated that he will continue to film pranks for his 50,000 YouTube subscribers, per NBC4.
