A YouTuber was making a prank video in a Virginia mall. He said the prankee took it badly and shot him.

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A YouTuber was making a prank video in a Virginia mall. He said the prankee took it badly and shot him.

Tanner Cook of the YouTube channel 'Classified Goons' said he was recording a practical joke when a prankee took it badly and shot him in the abdomen.
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Joshua Zitser
Apr 4, 2023, 6:46 AM

Dulles Town Center Mall in Virginia

The interior of Dulles Town Center mall in Virginia, where the shooting took place. Famartin/Creative Commons
  • A YouTuber was shot in the abdomen while recording a prank video at a Virginia mall on Sunday.
  • Tanner Cook of Classified Goons said the shooting suspect didn't take the joke "very well."
  • Cook, who was in intensive care, said he will continue to make prank videos after his recovery.


A 21-year-old man said he was recording a practical joke for his YouTube channel in a mall in Dulles, Virginia, when a prankee got mad and shot him in the abdomen.

Tanner Cook, a prankster on the YouTube page Classified Goons, was in intensive care on Sunday after a bullet pierced his stomach and liver, according to the CBS News affiliate station WUSA.

He remains in a hospital following surgery.

Speaking to WUSA from his hospital bed, Cook said: "I was playing a prank, a simple practical joke, and this guy didn't take it very well and shot me."

Cook, whose YouTube account has almost 40,000 subscribers, regularly posts videos of him playing pranks on unsuspecting members of the public.

Previous videos show him going behind the counter at a fast-food restaurant, trailing strangers in stores, and pretending to vomit on Uber drivers.

In earlier videos his victims became aggressive and even called the police

But on Sunday Cook got his most shocking response yet. He and his friend were recording a prank video near the Cheesecake Factory in Dulles Town Center mall's food court when the suspect, Alan Colie, allegedly pulled out a semi-automatic pistol and shot him.

Cook's family told WUSA the footage is now part of the evidence against Colie, 31, who was charged with aggravated malicious wounding, shooting in the commission of a felony, and discharging firearms within an occupied building.

Loudoun County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that it doesn't appear that the suspect and the victim knew each other previously.

Colie appeared in court on Monday and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for May. He's being held without bond at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center, the sheriff's office said.

Cook was not publicly identified by name by police, but court documents identify him as the victim of the shooting.

Despite his injuries, Cook told WUSA that he intends to continue making prank videos.
 
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Just read up on this guy

Tanner-Cook-1.jpg.webp


and looks like he definitely had it coming. No one should ever shoot someone over a prank. But how do you spend your life running around pranking total strangers for views and not expect something like this to happen eventually? Social media has had a terrible effect on society, running around disrupting people's lives for clout should not be an acceptable profession.
 
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Father of prank YouTuber who was shot says family has received harassment

Tanner Cook was shot in the stomach while filming a prank video on Sunday
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Father of prank YouTuber who was shot says family has received harassment​

Tanner Cook was shot in the stomach while filming a prank video on Sunday


April 7, 2023, 4:10 PM EDT
By Daysia Tolentino

The father of Tanner Cook, the prank YouTuber who was recently shot in Virginia, said that his family has received harassment following his son's hospitalization.

Jeramy Cook said he has received messages stating that his son deserved to get shot because of his YouTube channel. He also said he has been getting contacts and messages to his phone that have made him feel threatened.


"Our family has been absolutely targeted by people saying he should have died, too bad he didn't die, just colorful, nasty language," Jeramy Cook said.

Tanner Cook's videos, posted on his YouTube channel Classified Goons, have received backlash since he was injured at the Dulles Town Center Mall in Sterling, Virginia on Sunday.

Tanner Cook.
Tanner Cook.Classified Goons via YouTube

Cook was playing a prank involving Google Translate at the time of the shooting. The shooter, Alan Colie, was working for DoorDash at the time and told Cook multiple times to get away from him, Detective Katie Mitchell of the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said during a court hearing this week, according to CBS-affiliate WUSA.

The YouTuber is known for pulling audacious practical jokes on unsuspecting strangers. Some of his videos include "Fake Target Thug Employee Prank," "Fake Vomiting On Uber Drivers!" and "Taking Rackets From Tennis Players Prank!"

Comments under his latest YouTube videos show viewers praising and sympathizing with Colie. Others made jokes about Cook’s injury, which required him to undergo surgery to remove his gallbladder.


Jeramy Cook said many of the responses to his son's experience have gone too far.

"It's just gross," Jeramy Cook said. "How do they think that they're on some high moral ground to cuss somebody out whose son was just shot?"

Jeramy Cook said his son is "a good kid that doesn't have a mean bone in his body." He added that Tanner wants to provide entertainment to people.

He also pointed out that his son is not the only person to create prank content. The genre stretches back to the days of Ashton Kutcher's "Punk'd" or "Jackass" movies and have been a staple of online culture for years.

While the content is divisive, prank videos remain a popular genre on YouTube. One of Tanner Cook's collaborators includes JiDion, a notorious YouTuber who has built a following of over 6 million followers for his pranks.

"There's a million TV shows and movies and YouTube channels ... [of] people pranking people all day long, and people eat it up," Jeramy Cook said. "So if there's some magical line in terms of what's not okay, then that line should be clearly defined for anybody in the space."

Jeramy Cook said he forgives Colie, but added if someone feels harassed, they should tell the police and let law enforcement handle the issue.

“If he didn’t break the law, and he broke somebody’s feelings, then that’s not a thing that’s actionable,” Jeramy Cook said. “You know, you can’t take the law into your own hands because you feel triggered.”

One target of Cook’s pranking, Natalie Lomax, told CBS-affiliate WUSA that she reported Cook to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Department three weeks before the shooting. Lomax did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment.

Lomax and the Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

"It's been a lot, emotionally and physically," Jeramy Cook said of the past week. "So we're just praying and trusting God and getting through it."
 
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