A Youtuber was shot while filming a prank video at the Dulles Town Center Mall on Sunday. Authorities said the shooter didn’t take too kindly to the joke.
Tanner Cook,21, said he was playing jokes against suspect Alan Colie,31, for another video when he suddenly pulled out his gun. “I was playing a prank and a simple practical joke, and this guy didn’t take it very well,” he explained to WUSA9 from his hospital bed. His friend was recording the altercation when Colie pulled out his gun and now the footage is a part of evidence for the case. Cook said Colie didn’t say anything to him before pulling out the gun.
Cook’s father, Jeremy Cook, expressed a similar sentiment and claimed Colie “wasn’t having fun” while his son was filming with other mall goers. “They were making a video at the mall and trying to have fun with people and this guy wasn’t having fun. There was a phone that was around him and they were interviewing or talking to him,” he explained.
Tanner was critically wounded after the shooting and investigators said the bullet entered through his stomach and liver. He underwent surgery and is expected to recover. Additionally, he plans to continue filming videos for his YouTube channel, Classified Goons. The channel currently has 39,7000 subscribers on the platform.
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“And he didn’t like it, and he pulled out his gun and shot my son.”
The outlet said the mall reopened on Monday after it was shut down for an entire day due to the shooting.
Social media is divided on the shooting as some believe prank videos have gone too far with invading an individual‘s privacy.
The opinions regarding the shooting have been divided as some people believe prank and interview videos sometimes push the boundaries when it comes to privacy.
Colie was charged with aggravated malicious wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and discharging a firearm within a building.