YouTube prankster says he had no idea he was scaring man who shot him
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.
He wasn't giving me material for my viewers, so I kept annoying him until he shot me! Why is this my fault?!
Not annoying, threatening. Advancing despite being told to stop repeatedly is a threat.
What a douche bag
Love how this comment suits both actors in this little play.
If you'd read the article you'd know the shooter was extremely justified.
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.
Laws don't dictate morality and entrenching "being scared" as the basis for self-defense laws gives everyone far too much leeway in "being scared" of the black kid with his hood up, or the delivery driver that you got too high to remember, or somebody answering the door to an unindicated police raid with a legal gun in their hand.
People have a legitimate right to defend themselves. For instance waking up to an unannounced armed intruder in your house justifies the use of force. In this case an unhinged large crazy person was actually harassing someone in a threatening way. They weren't going about their business with a hoodie on, or delivering a pizza. The court agreed with the defendant that it was a self defense situation and so do I.
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.
Apparently it wasn't.
An excellent example of why a weekly range day is important.
If it didn't even deter the guy or make him think twice... I think that's string evidence no crime was committed.
Pain and emotional suffering is always available. If he pressed charges then all of his legal fees as well. The lost wages from being locked up... etc.
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.
Fun fact, a lot of school bully behavior qualifies.
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
Agree. Even under the broadest, natural law justification for self defense, this wasn't self defense. The dude had no basis to conclude his life was in danger.
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.
Yes we should all just die instead because you learned in Hollywood that there's magically no fear if you're in the right.
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.
Cool, first year law courses. Come back when you've spent years doing tactical training. The only more escalatory thing the YouTuber could have done is actually hitting them. At which point it's too late. We don't live in Hollywood land where the bad guy stands back to let the hero do whatever they want. Court rulings generally support this unless the state is a duty to retreat state. But Virginia is a stand your ground state. (As are most states these days)
What the YouTuber did is colloquially called Bulldogging and the entire point is to intimidate someone with an intimation of physical threat.
There's a reason this idiot is on the Internet and not in the field
Just another ivory tower kid whose never had a bad day in their life trying to QB a situation that developed in seconds.
Yeah and that reason is because I did my time and have a career where most days I can fuck off between phone calls and letters.
Lol tactical training? This is a legal question not a bootcamp hypothetical.
You don't get to kill people for walking toward you. Nobody would like living in that world. Not even in a stand your ground state is merely walking toward someone an imminent threat to life. You have been tricked if you believe this.
Bootcamp? And just walking toward someone? I see you learned to properly research stuff already. The article at the top describes the video in vivid detail. He got right up on him with intentionally disorienting noises. Pushed the phone right up towards his head. Ignored physical and verbal commands to stop and just got closer. That's not someone just calmly walking towards you on a sidewalk.
You're right, it's not someone calmy walking toward you, and you have the right to use reasonable force in self defense in this scenario. Deadly force is not reasonable absent a threat of deadly force or serious bodily injury.
The YouTuber had no weapon. Did not in fact intend to harm the victim. Did not touch the victim. Did not say he was going to harm the victim. Did not make any aggressive gestures that he was going to harm him.
What fact are you hanging your hat on to say "ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this dude was clearly out to kill me, I had no choice."
He walked towards me babbling while his three friends filmed? I would tear you apart in front of the jury if that's your defense. You would be in tears realizing how fucked you are.
You don't get to kill someone for walking toward you. You could punch him in the face. Not shoot him in the chest, though.
You don't think that's a threat of serious bodily injury? It's literally the original non verbal threat. If you wait for someone to verbally tell you they're going to hurt you then you're going to have a really bad time.
Some of these commenters must live in very pristine areas with little to no crime.
Where I live (not even really a bad area compared to many) that behaviour is almost always, at best, the start of a mugging. Other times, the victim ends up dead. There's no way to know that someone who is unhinged and in your face is just playing a prank. Playing optimism with the wrong group of people might very well be game over.
Do I LOVE that he was shot? Not at all. I definitely understand the driver's fear though, especially if he has lived or worked in rough areas. Especially in a country where many people have guns. I wouldn't want to wait and see, either.
All of that to say, "I think it's reasonable for cops to shoot people because they're scared."
Serious bodily injury means threat to life or limb.
Catching a beating in a food court surrounded by people from an unarmed man is not a threat to life or limb. It's a threat to black and blues.
What fact are you hanging your hat on in front of the jury here, since you're so sure. What's the reason you give to say "jury, I had no choice."
I feared for my life. The thing about a beating is it can just be a beating or they can kill you. You don't know. And now you're saying we should wait to see if they want to deliver a coup de grace blow? There isn't a legal or moral standard anywhere in the world that requires waiting that long to defend yourself. You're arguing from absurdity now.
I don't.
Someone pointing a cellphone in your face, even acting belligerently doesn't meet the standard of fearing for your life.
People that scared of the world shouldn't own guns.
Youtuber was definitely as asshole and he definitely had something coming to him but you can't just shoot someone who's annoying you and putting a camera in your face.
I see in another comment you deride first year law classes. Mind if I ask what year you're in?
I'm in the year that learned to look at case law and published work by actual lawyers who've passed the bar. I'm going to take their word and the word of my physical experience over a student's.
And you also would have people wait until they actually get hit. This idea that it's okay to act in every way like you're attacking someone but call it a joke when they react as if you're attacking them is idiotic.
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.
Yeah I've seen people talk about that like the driver somehow pre-meditated the shoot. But it's actually just a sign of good training on thinking through the adrenaline.
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.
That's one way to improve content quality on youtube.
Eh, at least pranksters are willing to risk something.
Too much watered-down content on youtube that just exists to suck up time without ever hurting anyone's feelings.
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 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.
He absolutely knew.
I fucking HATE "pranksters. He shouldve shit him to death.
I don't think I'd wish anyone to be shit to death. That sounds awful.
Cholera has entered the chat
Except pranksters, those can rot in hell.
Not even Putin?
deleted by creator
Ahh, reddit-comedians.
Putting forth so much effort for so little payoff.
What a giant piece of shit.
Would this have even made trial in a state with "Stand Your Ground" laws?
Let me guess, they're telling me about footage without showing me the footage.
Modern "journalism", everyone.
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?
Nah buch of tankies always ratio posts where they get to fantasize about murdering innocent people at the mall.
k
Both people were way out of line. The shooter more than the harasser.
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.
Yeah maybe, but *shooting *him? That's not exactly a proportional response!
Dude asked him to stop multiple times and was pursued. Shooting is totally justified.
America moment
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.
I wouldn't be in fear that my life would imminently end. That's stupid and rediculous.
Well, I guess you aren't a reasonable person.
Just not terrified of every other human being. Seems like a shitty way to live and an easy way to end up serving life in prison for murder.
I’m not terrified of every other human being. Just the tiny portion who refuse to respect personal space and clearly expressed verbal and nonverbal boundary delineations. This isn’t comparable to a stranger calling you over to ask for directions or for some money or help with something.
Okay, be terrified of them.
At what point do you take it as a lethal* threat ?
Of nnore, you would have been wrong in this instance. Police get immunity if they make a mistake, you do not.
When they’re repeatedly advancing after being warned to back off. That’s a legal threat at that point. The victim has made it clear that they’re asking the perpetrator to move and also made efforts to remove himself from the situation. When prevented from doing that there was an imminent threat of bodily harm to him, at which point he reacted appropriately.
I don't see anything that says he was prevented from retreating.
Legal threat was an autocorrect error.
I meant to say lethal threat.
Advancing on you may be a threat of harm, it's not a threat of lethal harm.
That you could be in for a beating doesn't give you the right to start banging off at the mall food court.
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.
There was no reason for the person to be shot. Disgusting.