- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.world
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.
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A doordash driver gets cornered by a large 6 foot 5 man who aggressively shoves a phone in his ear repeatedly calling them a dipshit who thinks about their “twinkle”, tries to get away but is followed, explicitly asks the man to leave him alone 3 times but is ignored, and tries to brush the phone away? Yeah that sounds like a situation a reasonable person might fear for their life in, and before anyone goes “well why didn’t they use a less lethal self defense method?”, the prankster is 6 foot 5 and the victim likely only had his fists or his gun for self defense, one of those two is going to get you out of that situation alive
Just based on the facts from what information we have, I fully agree. The story would have to change significantly in order to show anything other than exemplary display of good self-defence principles:
- avoid being in a shady location - check
- when getting in a sticky situation anyway, attempt to flee / defuse (good judgement on what to try first) - check
- if still in the threats phase: back off a bit to clearly demonstrate that you are not the aggressor, support that verbally - check
- If it is clear that the attacker ignores your pleas, do the minimum damage to STOP the attack safely. Based on that principle, he could have pulled & shot a lot sooner, but apparently wanted to be more defensive & nice than most would have been - check
You should not allow a verbally aggressive person to stay at a distance where they could land a punch or use a concealed knife at any time, especially after you backed off already. Try articulating near a cop’s face and see what (rightfully) happens.
I agree that Cook is the asshole here and deserves what he got, from a legal perspective though I have to disagree that shooting Cook was proportionate to the threat.
You describe Cook as the attacker, but there was no expressed threat of violence, only that he was big, and aggravated. Cook didn’t die but easily could have.
The issue with your claim of “no expressed threat of violence” is that you don’t have to express anything to attack someone from the stated distance before the victim can react.
The described actions are already quite aggressive, even with no “violent” expression. I’m honestly not sure you can claim a significant distinction between “aggresive” behavior and behavior that “expresses a threat of violence”. If you’ve never dealt with people who can flip that switch on a dime, I’m happy, but for most people that distinction is not a huge one.
You have someone you don’t know who is larger than you invade your personal space and start acting in an incomprehensible (and vaguely insulting) manner. You ask them to stop and attempt to distance yourself from them repeatedly but they continue. You attempt the least violent method of forcing them to stop but they continue.
This is an utter stranger. You don’t know their mental state, their level of sobriety or lack, if they’re mentally ill. You’ve tried everything that should be neccesary to stop a reasonable person.
At this point you can attempt to run (if you think you can get away from them fast enough, exacerbated by size difference), you can attempt to ignore them (despite all evidence that won’t work as asking them to stop did not)… you don’t know if any of these actions might flip a switch in them and change this from an uncomfortable invasion of space into a violent encounter.
You could call the police but if this turns violent you are potentially dead before they arrive.
Every second this continues is another second of not knowing if large aggressive crazy person is going to suddenly pull a knife or otherwise escalate further.
Or you can “make them” stop. Initiate violence yourself. Absolutely god awful terrible fucking idea, but easy to see how someone might think that’s the only option available to ensure their personal safety.
Real life isn’t DBZ, no one’s shouting “Ultra Shiv Technique!” or “Taste my ultimate sucker punch attack!”.
Is the expectation that everyone should be willing to allow themselves to be gut stabbed before they know for certain that they are in danger so they can then take self defensive action? Or is the issue that people don’t believe “gun” is a valid method of self defense due to the level of damage it so easily inflicts?
While I would hope someone would carry a less than lethal option, like mace or a tazer, I think this whole thing falls under “Fucked around and found out”
Spot on. Real life isn’t like the internet, when you act the aggressor the victim isn’t going to down vote your behavior, they’re going to run away or defend themselves.
Or is the issue that people don’t believe “gun” is a valid method of self defense due to the level of damage it so easily inflicts?
A lot of the comments in here make me think these people would be happier if this guy would have pulled a knife and stabbed the prankster vs doing the safer thing for them and just backing away and shooting. If this had happened to a woman I feel like all these comments would be commending her for defending herself but because it’s a male they think he should have invited him to a boxing ring to settle it like gentleman.
In summary, it’s a question of whether Colie’s response was proportionate to Cook’s threat. We’re going to disagree on that, in fact I suspect most American’s will disagree with most non-Americans on this. Ultimately the (American) court will decide.
People only see this with the context that this is a youtuber doing a prank.
This man is 6 fucking 5. Imagine a random giant gets in your face, you think you’re about to be robbed or beaten. He advances. You retreat. He advances. You retreat, he advanced. Again, you retreat, he advances, all the while shoving something in your face. How many times do you need to tell someone to disengage and retreat before its okay to consider it a threat?
Just because this guy happened to be a youtuber doing a prank is irrelevant, imo.
Tbf imo while I carry a gun, I also carry mace for shit like this. From the above description it seems normal force was certainly justified but deadly force is questionable, however I withhold personal judgement as I’m not following the case and the details reported could be (often are) wildly innacurate from the facts.
America seems fucking depressing if you feel you have to carry multiple weapons on the regular to be safe.
What’s depressing is countries where self defense doesn’t exist. Where defending yourself is a crime that gets you locked up.
Self defense is allowed in most countries, the difference being appropriate measures. If someone attacks me and I punch them to get them off, that’s justified self defense and unless you’re unlucky it’s not going to be lethal on the attacking party. As soon as you’ve pulled out a gun, other brought a lethal tool into the mix.
Single braincelled 'murican posts again
I had a friend in Canada who defended his family against a home intruder with a firearm. He was locked up for trying to keep his kids and wife safe from somebody who broke into his safe space. He was locked up and even after getting out is not allowed to see his own children, even though the wife still stands behind his actions.
So sure, talk down to me because I’m American and I believe a man should be able to protect himself and his loved ones without ruining his life.
Defending is not escalating; if you escalate, you become the attacker.
So… you need to wait for this 6ft 5in dude to deck you in the face first?
(God this sounds like tryhard macho bullshit, but it’s true) If this prank YT douche had a knife he could have killed the guy before he could react. People are fragile, and the outcome of a violent altercation is often decided by the first blow.
If you’ve never taken an unexpected strike to the head or to one of the many sensitive spots in your torso, it’s nearly impossible to think straight in the moments after. I used to do some martial arts, and I’ve taken hits during sparring when hit where my gear didn’t cover. Hell, many hits even through sparring gear left me reeling. In a real fight someone with ill intent will capitalize on those moments where your head is spinning and it can be over in seconds, rather than your sparring partner immediately stopping, yelling “oh shit! are you ok?”, and you both falling over in a laughing fit at how in the hell he just managed to kick you in the throat because you dodged the exact wrong direction right into his damn foot so it hit you in the throat instead of your chest pad.
Guns aren’t the answer but this take is absolutely asinine.
So… you need to wait for this 6ft 5in dude to deck you in the face first?
I’ve taken hits during sparring […]
[…] this take is absolutely asinine.
This isn’t ”sparring” —that take is absolutely asinine—, this is ”Real Life™ GTFO”.
If a 6’5’’ dude seems like he might decide to deck you in the face, then you do whatever it takes to GTFO. Don’t wait around for the blows to start flying, don’t tell him three times to back away, you don’t need to prove how macho you are by “standing your ground”. Just give him a good push, and run away behind cover.
If he still acts like a threat, call the cops. Now you can take out your gun, machete, AR, whatever, and inform him it’s his turn to GTFO.
Not that the 6’5" idiot was much better:
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.
If you decide to threaten/harass someone, and they remain calm, chances are you’re the one in danger.
Depends on location, time of day/night, et cetera. America is big, like whole EU big, there are both extremely safe and extremely dangerous places contained within.
It’s more than twice the size of the EU.
The EU is 1.6M sq mi. The USA is 3.7M sq mi.
Thanks, I was out and about at the time I saw his question, but realized that while I was unaware of the exact proportions myself he was just as capable as I was of looking it up, so I didn’t bother.
Is that the EU now or with the UK?
The entire UK is the same size as 9 US states. The smallest 9, the smallest of which is just about the size of a small town.
Which doesn’t answer my question at all.
The USA is more than twice the size of the current EU. You can assume losing the UK didn’t account for a drop in the bucket.
Good question, love your uname.
Brazil is about as big. Nobody with a normal life carries weapons around.
Weeeelll because they aren’t* legally allowed to. Besides, we all know everyone in Brazil is already an off duty cop. We just not gonna talk about the RPG-7s in the Favelas though?
*(or is it now “weren’t” as of Ballscenario like last year?)
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You’re legally allowed to own and carry most weapons, just not firearms. Also, you can own swords but not carry them, for historical reasons.
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You have a distorted view of Brazil. Sure, Rio is a shithole, but even there only criminal gangs carry guns.
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After bostanaro’s defeat, the government properly cracked down on “legally certified” gun ownership.
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So that’s a “yes.”
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It’s a meme about how every video from Brazil is some criminal with a gun interacting with someone else in brazil who surprise! happens to be a police officer in plain clothes with a gun of their own. This may surprise you, but I’m aware that not “everyone in Brazil” (which would include grandmothers and toddlers and shit) is actually an off duty cop.
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So yes. “They don’t carry weapons” because “they aren’t legally allowed to carry the effective ones.”
In fact, https://www.npr.org/2022/08/13/1116989125/brazil-firearm-ownership-booms-gun-laws-loosen-bolsonaro
Legal gun ownership boomed with it “becoming legal.” This indicates that the reason those people weren’t is because it “wasn’t legal.” Those people want to carry, they just “follow the laws” unlike all those people who actually do carry guns in Brazil that we’re ignoring because they’re criminals.
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Take away the gun for a minute. Would this guy be on trial if he instead hit him in the head with a blunt object? I’m not a fan of guns, not approving of firing them in public, so on and so forth, but I think this person may have been justified in defending themselves.
Yeah I figured this would be the outcome
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.
and thats everything thats wrong with society right here.
Him getting shot is just giving him more fame, more money and more excuses to continue doing this shit.
That could be short term. Oftentimes I hear about these people getting more followers, but then I don’t hear about them ever again. There are exceptions to that obviously, but I’m not entirely certain on how many retain that fame.
Subscribers is a big number for YouTubers, but if I’m not mistaken, views for videos is still more important. And I wonder how easy it will be to continue making this kind of content a) after suffering an injury like this which will put him out of commission for a while and likely prevent him from doing particular stunts, and b) with the general hesitancy to approach people that this altercation will hopefully instill. So he could be looking at paying actors (would go poorly) or making his pranks more tame (would go poorly).
Articles shouldn’t be blowing up his channel when covering this case, he makes a living harassing random strangers
I’m not really addressing that facet of the topic, I was addressing whether those subs would be enough to keep his career afloat. But for the record, I’m not going to be subscribing as I also do not appreciate his behavior.
I think it’s about not missing his final prank. 2 month later: idiot got shot again. Darwin wins
Except around here you get two in the chest and one in the head.
“It’s just a prank” needs to end.
Assume that if you threaten someone, they will in turn assume you are a threat.
He almost stopped, but didn’t because he wasn’t getting an entertaining enough reaction.
the fucking lack of empathy is appalling. as if people going about their lives exist to give him the reaction he’s looking for.
Exactly. The content wasn’t good enough.
This was completely inevitable, I’ve seen one or two videos of ‘pranks’ and felt its only a matter of time before someone gets assaulted or shot, now the little shit has more viewers
I mean, people are legit insane these days, and basically everyone has a gun. Like, forget pranks for a sec, I was telling my wife that the cart narc guy is probably lucky to be alive and he’s playing Russian roulette and loading another every time…
Cart narcs fights the good fight though.
He’s a cunt too.
No, people who leave their carts out are the cunts that need to be made aware.
I keep seeing YouTube shorts of dudes like this doing not just stupid shit, but DANGEROUS shit. I saw this one of this dude flashing gang signs in gang territory in LA. You DO NOT do that shit. Any time someone would get aggressive with him he’s go “it’s a prank there’s a camera!” One of these days he’s going to say that and it’s going to piss the dude he flashed signs at off even more and he is going to get shot.
Here’s hoping
According to Darwin, this is evolution - and not everyone makes it.
Dude deserved to be punched in the face, not shot. I hate people who do stuff like this and wish they’d stop getting attention. But I can’t imagine how you could justify shooting someone over it.
Except he’s 6’5 and Collie probably isn’t that.
Yeah. It’s complex.
It’s more or less assault by Cook. I mean ok in hindsight there wasn’t that much of a threat to Colie, but if I were queueing somewhere minding my own business and out of nowhere this big guy was getting in my face about his twinkie it would be… “very intense”.
By Cook’s own admission he was trying to illicit confusion. IDK if that’s really an emotion in and of itself, rather a conflict between multiple emotions. In this case those emotions would be fear, anger, embarrassment, whatever.
If Cook were to say “I was behaving in an intimidating way in order to illicit fear, anger, embarrassment, and a conflict between all of those emotions on the part of Colie” it sounds much more like assault.
Yet the fact remains that Colie’s reaction of shooting the guy isn’t really proportionate to the threat. Certainly in most places which are not America Colie has broken the law and Cook has not… despite that feeling somewhat unjust.
Rather than changing the law to allow people to shoot youtubers on sight (as appealing as that sounds) - I think it might be better for force platforms like youtube et al to have some social responsibility and at least exclude this type of content at least at a policy level.
I know my views on this are probably abnormal in some way but it just seems way inappropriate to me to use the public even as extras in your social media content. Like if I’m at a cafe or something and someone starts making a video even if I’m merely providing some infinitessimal portion of ambiance I just find that grossly inappropriate. I guess I just have to suck it up as part of being “in public” in 2023.
YouTube has too much money to be expected to be socially responsible. This is America.
I think it might be better for force platforms like youtube et al to have some social responsibility and at least exclude this type of content at least at a policy level.
I don’t know why this hasn’t occurred to me and why I haven’t seen anyone suggest it before now. This sounds like a great solution to the problem.
I don’t imagine the person who shot him ever wanted to shoot anyone. I feel bad for them.
This dude, though, he FAFO’d.
Doubt it, he was very ready to shot someone, he just needed an excuse, like those people who fantasize about shooting anyone.
He literally works one of the most dangerous jobs in America.
Yeah sure, I will remember to shot anyone who sneezes close to me, if a mentally ill non aggressive person approaches me, I will shot his mentally ill ass as well.
I think it’s a classic “Fuck around and find out”. I don’t like how every idiot can own a gun in the US, but i think it’s reasonable for a delivery guy to fear a strange guy putting his smartphone in your face. What if it’s a stupid way to mug you? Distract you with the phone and while your attention is on the phone, stab you with the hand you don’t see?
The average person is going to be overwhelmed by his size and even likely his energy, they’re not going to be able to punch him and do anything other than injure themselves and/or aggravate him.
Easy for me to think that he could have just brandished the gun to get the guy to back off. But I’m not in his shoes, I’m just some guy on his phone, I don’t envy him having to deal with that scenario and could totally see anyone making the wrong decision there
Hard disagree, he deserved worse. If you assault someone then expect to find out.
this is so American even the bullet was wearing a star spangled bandana and riding an eagle 🦅
Our freedumbs.
DoorDash driver 🥲
How much do you think the poor guy makes? And now he has to pay for a lawyer, lose the job, and probably go to jail. Only so this dipshit can get the right “reaction”.
And the shooting would’ve been completely justified for a cop.
Anyone who wasn’t 6’5 would have gotten their asses beat the first or second time they pulled this shit.
I don’t think shooting someone disqualifies you as a door dash driver.
Being the subject of a public court case might. I wouldn’t be surprised if they terminate his account just to distance themselves from the proceedings.
“The poor guy” pulled out a gun and shot a stranger on the street. Why is everybody defending him? Do people so vehemently hate prank YouTubers that they would rather just see them executed at this point? This thread is wild.
Delivery rep work is pretty dangerous, same with Uber drivers and other gig workers. Since you are not an employee, companies have no incentive to ensure your safety. You go to unsafe neighborhoods all the time, and risk of getting jumped in always present. And as I said, cops get leeway for far more egregious shooting, so why should this guy be hanged dry?
And I’d invite you to watch a few “prankster” videos on YT. Most of these are spoiled brats who are always trying to up the ante video-over-video. There is a deliberate attempt to intimidate and confuse their victims. So yeah, they had it coming.
That has zero to do with anything, when somebody does what he did, they have legal reason to fear grave injury or death, which justifies lethal force. Nothing else matters. He said STOP multiple times, backed himself away, multiple times, he TRIED to distance himself from him and he kept coming. The dipshit did this to himself.
Take your meds
I’m reminded of a prank channel I used to watch. He was briefly in jail for a bomb prank and later attacked and beat a woman, seemingly for fun, just a few years ago. These prank channels are nearly universally run by terrible people and there does not seem to be a single thing that will dissuade them from “advancing” their “art.”
I’m not a proponent of violence, but I think these dipshits need to get their asses beaten every time they do that shit. Maybe, if more of them got beaten or shot, then they would stop being ass fucks.
I shouldn’t have to be forced to figure out whether someone is a crazy, drug induced murderer, or just some stupid “prankster” every time I go out in public. Rule number 1 in a society is “don’t fuck with strangers”.
“Live and let live” are words I live by yet I see the vast majority of people don’t, and the worst of us get fame and money out of it. Humanity sucks.
You can drop the “not a proponent of violence” charade.
You can think that violence is abhorrent and also understand that it might be the quickest, simplest way to settle a matter. Adults can think two things at once. Crazy, I know.
“Violence is abhorrent, except when it’s against people I don’t like”, got it.
Correction, when it’s against others willing to commit violence, it’s often the only answer.
Example: Neville Chamberlain, and Winston Churchill
That’s not what he said.
That’s actually exactly what was said. I don’t condone violence except when I condone violence based on my definition of when I condone violence.
And you’re all lapping it up. Bravo.
Edit: and for the record my original comment didn’t even criticize the latter part (the condition or when its condoned). What I am very loudly questioning is the opening statement. Violence is being condoned. The OP is a proponent of violence. Just own it. Don’t be pussies.
Here, I won’t be a pussy.
Violence is never the answer, until it is.
Some people don’t know when to stop. What boundaries are. The prankster here found this guy’s boundaries. The victim felt fear, and reacted in his way. Do I get to draw the line in the sand where violence is the right answer? No. Judges, Juries, and lawmakers do.
Do I feel personally that this gentleman defended himself correctly? It’s a thin line, but yes. As I said in another comment the guy probably ended up in high crime areas on a regular basis and a gun might have been necessary for those situations. So that’s the defense he had on him. It’s not like we all carry a selection of weapons and deterrents that we can choose from depending on where we are at any given time. We carry what works for the worst situation we encounter.
As a delivery driver myself I sympathize because I have a feeling this wasn’t this guys first bad interaction with another individual. If he continues driving, it most certainly won’t be his last.
Try the second paragraph again
Adults can think two things at once. Crazy, I know.
We used to call that doublethink. Now we call it the right-wing.
Dogmatic much?
This doesn’t actually say anything. You just don’t like what was said.
No, we all think you’re dumb for dragging idiotic politics into this.
Some of us think with a rational mind and know it’s not all black and white out there.
Speaking in absolutes in this world is the worst thing you can do.
Speaking in absolutes in this world is the worst thing you can do.
This is the dumbest fucking thing I’ve heard all day. Congrats. I don’t even have to point out how ironic it is for calling me dumb and then saying this. Bravo.
The latter implies being a proponent. Let’s not move goal posts because we think we’re the “good guy”. Hint: you’re not.
Pull your head out of your ass
americans are so scared, shoot first and think later
What you gonna do? Shoot me?
Said man who was shot.
This channel needs to be de monetized
https://www.youtube.com/@classifiedgoons/about
For the lazy if people want to report his videos. He literally has shit like “Taking people’s groceries”, “Aggressively X”, “Accusing people of stealing pets”, etc. in the titles,
Almost all of them are against Youtube ToS.
