American YouTube content creator, Tanner Cook, who produces prank videos for his channel Classified Goons, was shot in the abdomen by the target of one of his pranks.
The incident occurred while Cook was recording a practical joke at Dulles Town Center Mall in Washington, DC on Sunday, April 3. The target of his prank, 31-year-old Alan Colie, allegedly pulled out a gun and shot the prankster. The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said they received a call around noon about the shooting and arrived on the scene within three minutes.
Deputies found Cook with a gunshot wound in his abdomen and medics rushed him to the hospital where he underwent surgery. Colie was taken into custody and charged with several crimes, including aggravated malicious wounding, discharging a gun inside an occupied building, and shooting in the commission of a felony.
Speaking to a local TV station, Cook explained that he was playing a simple prank and the attacker did not take it well. He added that Colie did not say anything before shooting him.
Cook’s channel has nearly 40,000 subscribers and videos of him playing pranks on unsuspecting strangers, such as pretending to vomit on ride-sharing drivers and making fast-food restaurant employees uncomfortable by going behind the counter. Occasionally, these pranks provoke dramatic responses, such as store managers calling the police or targets running at the camera.
A criminal complaint filed against Colie did not disclose the attack’s motive, but it identified Cook as Colie’s victim. It did not specify what prank Cook was playing on his attacker. Police found Colie with a gun at the shopping center’s food court, and officers booked him on several charges after arresting him.
It is unclear whether Cook knew Colie had been accused of violent behavior before. A criminal complaint from 2012 indicated that Colie’s father had accused him of assaulting him, but the case was dismissed in 2014.
Cook’s father expressed his family’s confidence in his son’s recovery, stating they lived on faith, not fear. Cook also told the media that he does not harbor any anger towards Colie and would not allow the incident to discourage him from producing more content. He affirmed that making prank videos is his life’s passion and he plans to continue doing so.