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.
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.
This assumes a level of focus, presence of mind, and training to reliably discriminate between injurious and non-injurious active threats and measure your response with non-lethal force on a gamble that your attacker is non going to be physically violent towards you.
Cops fail at this all the time, it’s not reasonable to treat non-injurious threats as acceptable behavior and demand non-police with zero legal protections handle it better.
If you’re going to walk up to a stranger in the street and threaten them, then proceed to advance when they respond with “please stop! Get away from me!”, you have forfeited any right to benefit of the doubt on their part.
Cops have “qualified” immunity, as citizens we are forced to take the threat level into account, or else we end up in court with what was it again? Two weapons charges and AWDW?
Not saying this dude should be charged, but he is, and now his life hangs in the balance of 12 “peers.” “Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6,” I know, but still, if you have enough time to back up and say “gtfo” 3x you can look at his hands real fast and see if something looks pointy, shooty, or text-y, and I’d rather mace him and keep rolling, case is easier to beat.
That’s not enough to respond with deadly force. You are responsible for your actions and should not carry a deadly weapon if you can’t make the distinction. Shouting for help, pushing away, or even a punch in the face are much more appropriate responses.
A reasonable person would not consider a gun an appropriate response to annoying and possibly threatening behavior. Running away for example.
The youtuber fucked around and found out.
When did it become the default to allow harrassment and intinidation just because its being filmed?
The victim was frearing bodily harm and theft, if not other violence.
Justified self defense in response to an assult, imo.
When did shooting someone become the only means of self defense?
When you’re facing someone significantly larger than yourself and that is the only tool you have on you to handle a situation where you are afraid for your physical safety. Yes he should have used a non-lethal option, but he didn’t have one on him.
Whether he should have been carrying one is an entirely different question to whether he was justified in using the gun in the situation he found himself in.
Not like you can ask the crazy giant continuing to escalate their threat to your safety to wait while you pop on home for your tazer.
I know it’s overly reductive, but is your issue with the gun or with this person attempting to defend themselves?
the only tool you have on you to handle a situation
It wasn’t. There was running, hiding, asking security for help… plenty of tools before picking a gunfight.
My issue is with this person jumping from 0 to 100 in order to defend themselves. My more general issue, is with people like this person thinking that’s the proper way to react.
Yeah, how about taking the phone away? Why does it to be violence?
he tried to knock it away.
i will add here, i’m not keen to scuffle with someone who is 6’5" and hope i don’t end up beaten or shot myself. i see a lot of people here advocating a punch, but a lot of us also know that’s a potential fight we would lose.
disclaimer - i am not a gun owner. but i can understand some of the reasons why Colie reacted this way.
Let’s look at this scenario another way: if a 7 foot tall 400 pound dude goes up to a petite teenage girl and keeps smacking her in the face with a black object after she screams for them to stop repeatedly, she pulls out a knife and put it through his neck (because she cannot carry a gun yet), is she in the right?
Purely from a physical standpoint the FBI did extensive research on this subject decades ago in developing their guidelines for use of force, which reflects both in courts and which you also learn if you get trained for concealed carry.
The justification of deadly force is typically broken down as such: ability, opportunity, and intent. The first two are essentially crossed off in a scenario like this, you simply have no way of knowing if the 7 foot tall linebacker looking dude is a total softie or the 5 foot tall 95 pound granny got her black belt in middle age, and therefore have no way of determining right then and there the ability of the person across from yours ability to kill you with their bare hands or whatever object they happen to have within reach, AND ALSO that this can be accomplished faster than you can react, draw, aim, and fire.
Intent is the only reason why this guy is in court. Right now WE know there was no intent to cause grave bodily harm. But at that point in time, would a reasonable person being rather gently but persistently attacked with some object know this?
If you Mace someone you had better take them down. Without distance the mace may be a danger to you as much or more than the attacker.
Well guess we should just shoot him to avoid overspray huh? Lol, like it or not this is exactly a perfect use case for it, normal force was justified but deadly, we shall see what the court says I guess.
Yes.
Lol well we’ll see. Idk about you but if I can avoid the chance at prison (and have the time/ability to realize it’s his phone, of course), I’m using the mace which I keep for nondeadly threats on the nondeadly threat. DA in my area (and most areas actually) would definitely bring this case to trial, probably wouldn’t if I use normal force but still, if they do, simple assault is better than awdw and two gun charges in my humble opinion.
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?)
-
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.
-
You have a distorted view of Brazil. Sure, Rio is a shithole, but even there only criminal gangs carry guns.
-
After bostanaro’s defeat, the government properly cracked down on “legally certified” gun ownership.
-
So that’s a “yes.”
-
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.
-
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.
-
-
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.
Yes, from what is presented here, it sure sounds like self-defense was warranted but the guy needed to try a less lethal weapon. Put them both in jail, plus seize the Ill-gotten gains of the asshole.
I know it’s easy to be brave on the internet, with plenty of time to think about it: I wanted to quip “that’s what I carry elbows for”. I certainly can’t claim to know whether I would react appropriately, but I don’t have to since I don’t carry a lethal weapon. If you do carry, you need to be able to respond appropriately instead of just blasting away at the first confrontation
That’s my point though, I think he may have reacted appropriately. If he carried the gun legally and he was within his right to defend himself I can’t fault him for the outcome. More over, if I’m picking incidents to show irresponsible use of firearms, this wouldn’t be high on my list.
But it’s great to put on a list of reasons for gun control! Most seem to agree that him responding to a perceived threat violently was acceptable, but he shouldn’t have used a gun. But if he’s legally carrying, then it sounds like the biggest threat here was the access to firearms. Maybe access to a pocket sized kill button is harmful to society?
This guy felt threatened. If it’s any of the gun-owners in this thread and they have no context and feel threatened, I’m sure they’d hate having people call for their imprisonment because they thought they were doing the right thing to protect themselves and it turns out they made the wrong call.
I agree with you. This is responsible use of firearms. This is just what responsible gun ownership looks like. It’s a machine who’s only purpose is to kill. The best outcome is trying but failing to kill someone. The most likely outcome is someone is dead. That’s how guns work.
If you’re having the debate about having guns vs not, this is not a great example of either side.
This is the problem with US gun laws; so he’s carrying legally, gets in a situation where self defense is warranted, and does…
- ask the other guy to stop
- back away
cry for helppush the guy awayshove an elbow into guy’s gutknee him into the groinpush fingers into his eyesshove keys into guy’s kidneys- pull a gun and shoot the guy… because, y’know, can never be sure whether the attacker is going to shoot you first or not
I really wouldn’t want to live in a place where the only options for self defense are to either back away, or shoot someone.
What? This was a fucking 6ft 5in giant of an attacker. I suppose I’m happy that you never seem to have taken a sucker punch, or any serious strike to anywhere vital, but that sort of shit is a momentary action for the attacker that can easily leave the victim reeling and unable to react for literal minutes after.
The attacker doesn’t need a gun to permanently injure you, and only needs a moment to strike you when you attempt to do any of the options you crossed out as things that should have been attempted first. Plus it’s a hell of a lot easier to say any of those options you listed than successfully do them (besides crying for help of fucking course), especially when you have no training in self defense, you’re already intensely off balance, confused, scared, and tense because some random stranger is acting confusingly aggresive towards you.
You go to push him away. He elbows you in the face and proceeds to beat the ever loving shit out of you as you flail to block your vital organs, crying for help where you’ll be lucky if anyone responds at all, let alone fast enough to do anything to actually help you before you end up with broken bones and permanent brain damage (it doesn’t take much to do if someone’s going apeshit on your head once you’re already on the ground).
The unfortunate reality is that any threat to your physical safety by someone larger or stronger than yourself is inherently an existential threat to you unless you rely on your attacker not having lethal intent. You’ve been accosted by a complete stranger. You don’t know shit about their intent. You can only hope. This is true regardless of how each party is armed, guns, knives, or only with their fists. If they truly want to kill you and you have no way to equalize their advantage over you, you’re probably just fucked.
You can argue that people shouldn’t be allowed to carry guns and should be restricted to non-lethal options, but given the situation and the tools this guy had available, the gun was the only option that would guarantee his safety against unknown intent.
I don’t think it’s reasonable to ask someone to risk their own life just so they might allow an unknown aggressor with unknown intent the opportunity to live at the potential cost of their own life. The only way to know if you are in lethal danger in this situation is in retrospect. After the altercation is over, and the victim is potentially dead.
The aggressor is the one that chose to initiate the aggression. If the situation is a question of whether the victim ot the aggressor has more of a right to live, and it is a binary choice (as it has every potential to be), I don’t think it’s a hard call.
I wish that it didn’t have to be reduced to a kill or be killed judgement, but humans are far more fucking fragile than any of us like to admit or think about, and again we can only know if the attacker had lethal intent in retrospect.
only needs a moment to strike you
The shooter gave the attacker plenty of moments:
- asked him to back out
- backed away
- asked again
- backed again
- asked again
- backed once more
- pushed the phone out of his face
According to your logic, he could’ve died 7 times that day.
And only then pulled out a gun. 🤦
That’s assinine. If he was so unsure about the threat level, then should have tried to run away and hide from the start; they weren’t out in the desert FFS.
Instead, he acted all sure of his own superiority with his gun, waiting for an excuse to use it. That’s closer to premeditated intent to kill, rather than self defense.
Yeah I figured this would be the outcome
This story sums up America. Stupidity and guns.
Yeah that was my first thought, too. Both sides of this are peak america really.
The pranks in America are lame. Over in Europe you can literally threaten someone with a giant hammer (as a prank of course) and get away with it.
I think there are maybe two times in my life I’ve been pro-second amendment, and watching that video just now is one of them.
That guy, threatening multiple people with what anyone with eyes would see as an extremely open murder threat? Often with a fake body to demonstrate their life actually is actively at stake in this moment? You can shoot that guy.
People who are into these intense pranks probably went extinct in America.
That clown-thing is one of the worst ‘pranks’ I’ve ever seen in my life. Someone could easily get PTSD from that, or someone else could easily assault the clown with lethal force because of the threat implied.
Good pranks are along the lines of the Just for Laughs / Gags series, not these dumbass American vigilante pranks, or that miserable ‘clown’ prank above.
No, they’re not. You also can’t speak for every person, in every city, in every country in Europe. Don’t be a moron. People are killed in Europe all the time.
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.
This video is a textbook example of someone knowing appropriate force when defending themselves, and knowing when to stop. Unfortunately.
I’m not a proponent of violence, but I am a proponent of violence toward “these dipshits”
I’m not really interested in taking a side here, but if you can’t at least recognize the cognitive dissonance in this statement, there’s nothing anybody can say to you.
Hey, this is skirting pretty close to actually being a proponent of violence. Yeah, we all hate internet pranksters who annoy people for views, but that’s not a crime that deserves a death sentence.
The dumbass didn’t die. Shoving a phone that’s playing some dumbass confusing phrase, 6 inches from someone’s face, who is just trying to do his job, is assault. Most counties allow you to defend yourself if someone is assaulting you. Most states provide worker protections that provide extra penalties for harassing or assaulting employees. But I guess Uber Eats drivers don’t get those protections since they’re technically not employees. Weeee.
You’re right, he didn’t die. But if “more of them got beaten or shot” someone would. There has to be a better way to force asshole pranksters to stop besides shooting them.
Look, I’m not defending this idiot, he makes a living out of being a complete wanker to strangers, and this was a predictable outcome. I just don’t wish him dead for it. Much rather see him taken to court and deprived of his ability to make a living doing this shit.
This has come up a lot for me when talking to Americans about murder via gun. They (in these instances) have asked me things like “so someone breaks into your house and takes your TV, you just let them?” And they seem apoplectic when I say “yes, and I phone the cops.”
There’s a cultural inclination towards shooting people for crime, regardless of severity.
As an American… yeah, we’re kinda fucked up that way. No TV is worth someone’s life.
The difference here is this isn’t someone stealing a TV, and this isn’t someone being shot / almost killed just for a prank. You have the order of operations and perspective wrong. Colie and what he intended literally doesn’t matter.
What matters is this was someone who felt threatened by a 6’5" menace who approached him, engaged him in an aggressive manner, who didn’t stop when asked, and who continued to pursue when backed away from. Result: the threatened person did what they needed to eliminate the threat. If they intended to kill they could have shot again, but didn’t. If they didn’t have a gun they would have been equally justified in beating the shit out of the attacker until they felt safe. How easy that might be for most of the “prank” victims against a 6’5" male is an open question.
Someone stealing my TV isn’t a direct threat, and so no of course I wouldn’t shot them for that. Take the TV and leave. But that’s a false narrative. It isn’t someone stealing my TV. It’s someone who has broken into my house, is in the act of committing a crime, and who I have no idea how they are going to react now that they’ve been caught. They may very well see me as a juicier target. And for that reason I would feel the need to neutralize the threat by whatever means necessary.
For the record, I do NOT own a gun, and I do believe in gun control. So let’s not bring up any gun-fetish/revenge-fantasy retorts. I’m not saying there aren’t people that have those, but right here right now they are a distraction from an honest assessment of what is going on when a person feels legitimately threatened to a “reasonable person” standard. Also, no, someone turning around in my driveway isn’t a reasonable reason to feel threatened either.
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.
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
“Violence is abhorrent, except when it’s against people I don’t like”, got it.
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
Correction, when it’s against others willing to commit violence, it’s often the only answer.
Example: Neville Chamberlain, and Winston Churchill
Adults can think two things at once. Crazy, I know.
We used to call that doublethink. Now we call it the right-wing.
No, it’s called nuance lol
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.
You may call it right wing, the rest of the world calls it intelligence.
If you cannot view an issue from multiple perspectives, then I’d start worrying less about right vs left and start reading more.
The original post was proposing a hypocritical view. I.e. saying violence as bad while also endorsing it.
Doublethink is hypocrisy. And as long as you acknowledge that, then fine. Whatever. Sometimes it’s necessary to be a hypocrite. But if you’re always a hypocrite, you’re probably right-wing. Which was my point.
Holding contradictory views is not intelligence. It’s a learned skill to discard the cognitive dissonance inherent in hypocrisy.
americans are so scared, shoot first and think later
Yeah, we live in a scary country. It’s not unfounded.
Whenever I’m in America I have to remind myself that it’s possible that people around me have guns in public. Scary country indeed.
What’s scary is you thinking people in whatever your country is don’t have them! There’s not a country on the planet where criminals that want guns don’t have them.
I find it really interesting how quick Americans are to shoot. Like any minor inconvenience and you all justify shooting and killing someone. I understand self-defense, but shooting someone for something like this I find it so ridiculous. Especially when seeing comments in other news like the guy who killed a black guy for knocking on his door, or the guy who shot teenagers who were at the wrong house, then it’s all “we have such a gun problem” but here it’s a circlejerk of “he was coming at him WITH A PHONE and was TALLER THAN HIM, what was he supposed to do, NOT SHOOT HIM??”
@sholomo @Lightor I think you’re wrong but It’s an interesting argument. Why is this shooting seen by many as more reasonable than the guy who show the kid knocking on his door. For my money it’s the justifiable confusion. A kid knocks on your door and your first response is to shoot doesn’t make sense. You had room and barriers to make decisions. In this case the dude was in his face and wouldn’t back off. IMO they’re incomparably different. But yeah guns are a problem in both cases.
it’s true that the events are not truly comparable, but this also happened in a food court where there’s people around, not in a dark alley
@sholomo That’s a perfectly fair point. Now while I do not support how he reacted and it’s one of the many reasons, I don’t think people should be allowed to have guns willy-nilly, I will maintain that. There is a huge difference between something unexpected showing up in your doorstep and a man intensely yelling at you in your personal space. Extremely close doing things you are not able to comprehend who refuses to back away after repeated attempts to step back.
In opening statements, prosecutors urged jurors to set aside the off-putting nature of Cook’s pranks.
That’s bullshit, from the way it’s described, the guy was clearly behaving in a not normal and threatening manner.
I would like to move that all evidence of my client doing anything wrong be struck from the record.
Hey that argument worked to keep Trump in office…
No really it did…
Oy gevalt
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.
Exactly.
The only reason he got shot is because he was physically imposing enough to skip the normal defensive responses that might have come his way (and/or he specifically (or intentionally) chose victims he knew would be physically threatened by him).
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.
Take your meds
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.
Assume that if you threaten someone, they will in turn assume you are a threat.
Damn, he missed.
He eliminated the threat. That I can agree with. Training says shot center of mass until the threat is gone.
Unlike you and all your upvoters, I’m glad the shit bag is still alive.
I’m glad the real victim didn’t so something stupid (but maybe understandable in a high-enough threat posture) of shooting again; that would have made his defense much more difficult.
One shot was all that was needed. Heck even if he had missed, that would likely have been all that was needed since I assume (a risk I know) fuck bag prankster has at least enough self-preservation brain cells to un-ass from the scene once the loud bangs start to happen.
I’m glad Cook didn’t die for Colie’s sake. Killing somebody is majorly traumatizing even in self defense.
It’s sad that this article reads like advertising for a shit head to attract other shit heads (how many times did they call out his show?). He’ll come out of this better off financially.
Removed by mod
Because only success matters.
Because they are just reporting on facts that give context the entire situation.
Oh come on, the news hasn’t actually cared about that since they ditched the broadcast regulations by switching to cable.
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.
This channel needs to be de monetized
Very much so. YT should demonetize all “prank” channels. It’s just bullying/terrorizing.
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.
What a fucking piece of shit. YouTube prank fucks are wasting good air the rest of us need to breathe.
Removed by mod
If you’re response to a prank is to pull out a gun and shoot someone, you belong in a psychiatric ward away from people bcz that mentality gets people killed.
It’s not like he realized it’s a prank and then shot the person…
He had no idea what was going on and a large man was shoving a phone into his face and following him…
No one thinks a shooting is justified for “a prank” but when all a person knows is someone is shoving something in your face and acting aggressive…
It’s not hard to imagine they panic.
The “pranker” is literally trying to make a person panic.
And when people panic, sometimes they do dumb shit
How does a functional adult not understand that?
I can totally see how one would be freaked out by a larger man acting erratically. Without knowing it was a prank it sounds rather like he was drugged or something. Depending on what drugs he was he could be dangerous.
When you set your boundaries clearly and the person doesn’t respond to it, and continue harassing you while acting erratically… sounds like self-defense to me.
Isn’t that why the amis walk around with guns anyway?
A gun is the only thing that makes 4’9 Gertrude able to defend herself against a 6’11 Hafthor with malicious intent.
Everyone sucks here.
The prankster is harassing and intimidating people in public to make money. I hope he learned a lesson.
The shooter probably did have good cause to use physical force to defend himself. Had he punched the prankster or used pepper spray, I’d call it 100% justified. He used a gun though, and this harassment didn’t justify deadly force.
You cannot know how scared he was when a much larger man kept advancing on him.
I’m not a fan of American gun culture, but in this particular case the prankster got a big cup of fuck-around-and-find-out.
Yeah, the tricky part about the “this didn’t justify lethal force” argument is that it’s impossible to truly justify lethal force unless you wait for them to use lethal force first. You could be getting attacked by an 8’ tall 380 pound giant, but if the attacker is unarmed there will still be someone in the comments going “why not use pepper spray or a taser instead? Getting punched doesn’t justify lethal force.” The goalposts are constantly moving, to the point that you basically need to wait for an attacker to stab/shoot you before you respond.
That’s why the courts don’t use public opinion. The self defense laws are (at least in Stand Your Ground states) written in a way that the victim simply needs to fear for their life, or for the life of another. As long as they can justify that fear to a jury, they’ll be fine. And the jury will constantly be reminded that as long as they believe the shooter feared for their life, the shooter should be allowed to walk.
Agreed, and I do not think that the shooter should have shot the YouTuber, just that the YouTuber (and those like him) are pressing so many buttons that someone is bound to react unexpectedly. Add American gun culture to that and it creates this kind of shit storm.
In the world that has been created in the USA, the shooters reaction was within “reason” and there is a good chance the jurors will agree. That doesn’t mean anyone thinks that anyone deserved to be shot necessarily, just that the shooter was in reasonable fear and that the YouTuber merely faced the consequences of his own actions.
Legal, and I think moral justification is not based on how emotionally scared he was. Legal justification for deadly force requires a belief based on evidence and logic that the defender was about to be maimed or killed, or become the victim of a short list of felonies.
His lawyer will likely try to make that case to the jury, but a size disparity and weird behavior without an explicit threat or actual physical harm is going to be a tough sell for deadly force.
I don’t know American law, and frankly I don’t care because the justice system is shit. But despite that, the jury is urged to put themselves in the shoes of the shooter and use his intent to decide his level of guilt.
Logically and morally, in today’s world the shooter is likely justified in his action but the law hasn’t got there yet. Not that it will with gun culture the way that it is.
Do I think he should have shot someone? No. Do I still think the YouTuber got what he deserved? Yes. Both of these things can be true at the same time.
Weird behavior? Try “overtly aggressive” behavior
The purpose of the prank was to confuse the victim. While he is confused, he is, by the prankster’s intention, stuck in a situation he has never been in before. New situations are hard to assert properly. He was shoved a phone to his face, multiple times, aggressively, not sure why or whats coming next.
You know there are drugs with which its enough to inhale just a few grains of their powder to be affected and controlled? What if the phone was laced with such a drug? What if the words from the phone sounded like a threat?
So many different thoughts run through the head in an intentionally confusing situation that is also aggressive and threatenning. I dont blame the shooter here.
I tried punching an attacker once and ended up with brain damage as a result of losing the fight. Now I carry a weapon and I’m not going back to fists with all the uncertainty their use entails.
this harassment didn’t justify deadly force
Ehhh, it depends.
Alan asked Tanner to stop and retreated several times, but Tanner just kept advancing on him. Alan was just doing his job and was presumably alone, but Tanner was with a group of friends. Tanner was taller than Alan and is a pretty big guy, so it would be reasonable for Alan to feel threatened. Throwing a punch against a bigger guy who’s with his friends wouldn’t be a great move. I watched Tanner’s “I got shot!” video and he was wearing fairly loose clothing; if he were dressed similarly for this prank, it would have been easy for him to conceal a weapon of his own. Even if he didn’t have a weapon, his friends might have had one. So now, even if Alan had pepper spray, it’s not a great option since he could end up getting ganged up on. The text that Tanner’s phone was reading could have been construed as being homophobic (I assume you know what a “twink” is), particularly without the benefit of tone to judge, and even if Alan isn’t gay, he still reasonably could have believed that Tanner thought he was and was targeting him for this. And finally, Tanner’s behavior was probably very suspicious - beyond just what’s described in the article. First of all, he’s trespassing, having been thrown out by security the day prior, and was trying to avoid security. Secondly, in his “I got shot!” video he does this thing where he stares at you slack-jawed. It’s off putting in the video and I’m sure it’s worse in person. It would be reasonable for Alan to believe Tanner was on meth, coke, heroin, etc., and was trying to shake him down for drug money. Note that “twinkie” is - according to UrbanDictionary, at least - slang for a bag of drugs worth a certain amount of money ($20 back in 2005).
On the other hand, Tanner didn’t have a weapon out, nor did his friends; he didn’t touch Alan; and this all happened in a public place.
But if Alan believed that Tanner was on drugs, their being in public doesn’t matter. We know security wasn’t around and drug addicts have a reputation for illogical behavior, so he could have very well feared they might kill him in front of a group of people. And since Alan had reason to believe Tanner or his friends might be carrying, pulling his gun and giving them a chance to respond - possibly pulling their own guns and shooting him - wouldn’t have made sense, either.
No one thinks a shooting is justified for “a prank”
Nah there’s definitely people saying that.
No, but I am seeing lots of idiots that think everyone that’s harassed for a “prank” somehow know it’s just a prank…
I think it’s an empathy thing, you idiots are putting yourselves in the shoes of the “pranker” and since that means you’d know it’s a prank, you think everyone would.
Usually people get passed that line of thinking around 8 or 9 years old, but it seems to be taking lots of people longer recently.
All the shooter knew was a large man ran up, shoved a phone that was blaring confusing curse words directly in his face, and kept doing it when asked to stop and advancing when he tried to back away
That is what he got shot for.
He didn’t say “oh. I’m being pranked, I should just cap this idiot”.
Usually people get passed that line of thinking around 8 or 9 years old, but it seems to be taking lots of people longer recently.
That’s called “theory of mind” and, if I recall correctly, it typically develops around age four.
Who the hell is “you idiots”? I don’t condone what Cook did.
If your idea of a prank is to physically intimidate strangers by getting into their personal space and harassing them when they say to stop, then you are an asshole.
If you intimidate strangers for any reason full stop you’re a thug. The guise of “pranks” doesn’t excuse menacing behavior
Sure, but it doesn’t warrant pulling out a gun.
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.
Physically intimidating strangers and not stopping when told to seems like the exact situation that should lead to escalating force, and while something like mace would be better overall for society, using the tools that are available is understandable.
Exactly.
First of all, it’s your* response.
Second of all, it depends of the prank. Did you not read the article? The “victim of the prank” doesn’t have the benefit of knowing it’s a prank while being pranked.
And this is not some silly string prank on your face. It’s some dude who’s taller than you, trying to put a phone on you. You don’t know what people have been going through to just bug them like that and expect no consequence. What if the person received a death threat that very morning, for example?
And the guy being pranked told the pranker to stop, multiple times.
And the guy being pranked tried to move away while the prankster continued to advance on him.
And the pranker had a mob of people with him.
So his options included getting attacked physically and loosing control over his firearm which could have them been used on him.
that’s s really big what if
If your day consists of pranking unsuspecting people, knowingly causing anger and anxiety, then you belong in a psychiatric ward away from people because that mentality gets people killed.
This is exactly what 'Public Disturbance" charge is for.
Why are they not being charged with it?
Ok, but how would you know it was a prank? If you have someone who has suddenly entered into your personal space exhibiting erratic but persistent confrontational behavior, I think there’s some justification towards reacting with violence. I dont think most of us are conditioned or trained to react to threatening behavior in the most effective way, like cops and military are. So that means flight, freeze, or fight. You don’t have the benefit of knowing it was a prank, you just have a situation rapidly unfolding in front of you. Unfortunately in this situation Colie was armed, and responded with that measure. I think most of people would be ok if the response was just a phsyical fight without a gun, but then again how many people have the capability to “win” that way?
I agree with you but find it funny you included cops in the “conditioned or trained to react to behavior in the most effective way.” An American cop would have also shot the prankster and would probably have emptied his whole clip into him as well.
Lol yeah had to throw them in, because I guess essentially they DO get the training. They prob get de-escalation training too, but why bother when as a cop you get a few free oopsies a year.
So throw a punch, or shove him. You seriously think shooting someone is an acceptable response?
That’s actually the last thing you want to do if you’re armed. You want to avoid physical confrontations, because it vastly increases the chances of them being able to take your weapon and use it against you. You want to keep them at a distance whenever possible, which is exactly what the shooter tried to do. They retreated and told the prankster to stop harassing them multiple times. It was only when the prankster followed them that they opened fire, because it became clear that he had no intention of stopping.
Whether or not the shooting is justified is up to a jury. But I just wanted to point out that your “just punch them” response is… Just wrong. Pretty much any concealed carry instructor will tell you that step 1 is to deescalate. Step 2 is to try and get away from the situation. Only after you’ve exhausted those should you consider lethal force. And that’s exactly what the shooter did.
Crazy idea, but you could just not bring a gun into a mall…
Crazy idea, but read the article. He’s a delivery driver there to pick up an order. Probably enters high crime areas on the regular and kept it on his person where it would be most needed.
Yep that’s what I was thinking, too. He’s probably seen and encountered some shit. Some gig work like Uber Eats allows customers to pay in cash so there’s a fair chance that he is a natural target for theft through armed robbery or assault. If I had to do this work, I would want to be armed as well. Nobody in their right mind wants to do this kind of shit work though.
So, if the person who is attacking you is much larger, or there are more of them, even if it’s a prank, you’re going to just throw a punch or shove them? What a privileged position you must be in to think you can simply punch or shove an attacker. Say that to the 100lb woman a 250lb guy is advancing on, she should just shove him, right?
Look, I don’t know if you’re ignorant or trolling, but if someone is acting like they’re going to attack someone and they have justifiable reason to fear for their life, then deadly force is a reasonable response. I’m not going to get the shit beat out of me, or killed, because “hey, it might just be a prank.”
Did you read the last sentence of the post you replied to?
I haven’t watched the video, but I bet it’s fairly clear if the target of the prank felt threatened or just annoyed.
Either way, crazy gun owners exist. It’s one of the many reasons you should not try to prank or annoy strangers for fun and profit. You might get shot, and nobody is going to feel sorry for you.
deleted by creator
Sure, not saying what the prankster did was right. But pulling a gun on him is escalation beyond what a reasonable person would do.
*Flailing their little noodle arms at a guy who’s much bigger, with his buddies, and acting threatening and unpredictable is beyond what a reasonable person would do. Especially if they have any sort of weapon that would level the field.
Lmao, if you think my 120lb ass wouldn’t have seen the writing on the wall. I sure as shit would have gone so far as to pull it and if he didn’t stop in light of a gun (not in any way a certainty), we would have assessed our options, wouldn’t we? I’m not being handed a choice.
He has almost a foot on me, definitely more strength, way more backup than I do (they are each also individually stronger), relying on bystanders to help is less likely to pan out the more bystanders there are, and various people in this thread have explained very carefully they’re not trying to get murked. Yes, that would cross my mind, absolutely.
Hate to say it. Not a fan of guns and a huge number of those who are seem to think it’s a toy instead of a killing weapon. And he really shouldn’t have had one in a damn mall.
But he did have one, the situation would have come through to me as a very likely bodily threat, and I’m not terribly judgemental about the self-defense in that specific moment. He could have run. They just would have chased him down for the fun of it.
While I wouldn’t have been so quick to actually fire, this is also just sorta what happens when you continue to advance on people in a manner that’s meant to induce fearful uncertainty. You don’t know who has a weapon and the trauma to use it.
“It’s just a prank” needs to end.
Nothing would have been lost in he died. Fuckin trash yt streamers.
He’s a dumb ass kid who will one day hopefully grow into an adult that might do something useful.
Pennywise taught me that life is the most precious thing you can lose.
Life lost always matters.
Yes and now someone might lose their freedom because a “prank bro”. So fuck that guys freedom cause this guy is just a kid. Really?
Prank bro is a shit head.
But if America had less guns, then the debate over someone losing their freedom changes drastically.
Meh… guns are stupid, but only because nobody needs a gun to stab a shithead in the eye with their keys.
You get in a position where you need to stab someone in the eyes with keys you take a chance of getting your eyes stabbed with their keys.
Not likely. Someone attacking you while trying to rob or hurt you, will either have prepared much better than that (look out for brass knuckles, baseball bats, knives, guns, etc.) or think they can overpower you with their bare hands. Either case, no keys.
He’s 21. That’s a dumb ass adult, not a dumb ass kid.
Having been 21 once upon a time, yes, he’s a dumb ass kid.
Having also been 21 once, that’s a braindead adult.
Based on his post-shot photos and behavior, he seems to be growing into an even bigger douche.
Life lost always matters.
That’s why we have wars.
Bro Hymn. Classic tune.
