Source: Ralf Hahn / Getty
YouTuber Tanner Cook was filming pranks in a Virginia mall for his channel Classified Goons when the man he was pranking responded by shooting him.
If you’ve spent a good amount of time on social media you’ll notice a trend of funny prank videos. These videos almost always go viral and creators gain huge followings from this type of content. The vast majority of the time the videos are fake or stagged with everyone putting their best-acting foot forward.
Perhaps however Youtuber Tanner Cook missed the memo about the pranks being fake.
Cook runs the Youtube channel Classified Goons and according to WUSA 9, a recent real-life prank in a Virginia mall almost ended in tragedy.
31-year-old Alan Colie reportedly shot the Youtuber after a brief scuffle in the food court inside Dulles Town Center Mall.
“I was playing a prank and a simple practical joke, and this guy didn’t take it very well,” said Tanner Cook. “He didn’t say anything to me,” Cook added.
Cook’s family revealed one of his friends filmed the altercation but now that video is police evidence. Despite the video being a joke gone wrong , Cook’s father called the shooting “shocking” and “unnecessary.”
“They were making a video at the mall and trying to have fun with people and this guy wasn’t having fun,” added Jeramy Cook. “There was a phone that was around him and they were interviewing or talking to him, and he didn’t like it and he pulled out his gun and shot my son.”
“We need restoration, we need healing, and we need to come together,” said Jeramy Cook. “I pray for this young man and pray that he finds God in this. I believe that God saved our son’s life, and he could have easily died but that’s not the outcome. God has plans for my son.”
“It’s surreal,” added his grandfather Mike Cook. “It’s obviously been unnerving and some fear running in and out, but we live on faith and not fear.”
Even after being shot in the abdomen Cook says he will not stop making prank videos. He also says he has no “ill will, anger, or bitterness” towards the shooter.
