YouTube star Tanner Cook shot while filming prank at Virginia mall
YouTube star Tanner Cook was shot in the abdomen Sunday while filming a prank at a mall in Virginia.
The shooting occurred around 11:57 a.m. at the Dulles Town Center Mall’s food court in Sterling, Va., the Louden County Sheriff’s Office said.
Police arrived within several minutes and found Cook, who appears on the “Classified Goons” YouTube channel, outside with a gunshot wound to his stomach and liver. The 21-year-old was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Alan W. Colie, 31, was arrested shortly thereafter and faces charges of aggravated malicious wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and discharging a firearm within a building. Several videos of the moment Colie was taken into custody were posted on social media.
According to law enforcement, Cook and Colie did not appear to know each other.
“I was playing a prank and a simple practical joke, and this guy didn’t take it very well,” Cook told WUSA 9, adding that Colie “didn’t say anything” to him before he began shooting.
A friend of Cook’s was filming when Colie fired.
Cook’s family said video of the shooting was taken as evidence.
The mall was closed for the remainder of Sunday but reopened on Monday.
“Classified Goons” films pranks in public and has more than 41,000 subscribers. Some of the videos on the channel feature people who are upset with the pranks confronting the pranksters. No other information about the prank being film at the mall was made available.
Cook told WUSA 9 that he would resume filming pranks after he recovered from the shooting.
