LEESBURG, Va. — After two days of testimony, the man who shot a 21-year-old YouTuber inside Dulles Town Center on video in April has been found not guilty on two charges of malicious wounding.

The jury found Alan Colie not guilty of aggravated malicious wounding or use of a firearm for aggravated malicious wounding, however, he was found guilty of firing a gun inside the mall. That guilty verdict has been set aside until a hearing to discuss it on October 19.

Colie, a DoorDash driver, was on trial for shooting Tanner Cook, the man behind the YouTube channel “Classified Goons,” at the Dulles Town Center back in April. Colie admitted to shooting Cook when he took the stand Wednesday but claimed it was self-defense.

The case went viral not because there was a shooting inside a mall, but because Cook is known to make prank videos. Cook amassed 55,000 subscribers with an average income of up to $3,000 per month. He said he elicits responses to entertain viewers and called his pranks “comedy content.”

Colie faced three charges, including aggravated malicious wounding, malicious discharge of a firearm within an occupied dwelling, and use of firearm for aggravated malicious wounding. The jury had to weigh different factors including if Colie had malicious intent and had reasonable fear of imminent danger of bodily harm.

Cook was in the courtroom when jurors were shown footage of him getting shot near the stomach – a video that has not yet been made public. Cook’s mother, however, left the courtroom to avoid watching the key piece of evidence in her son’s shooting.

The footage was recorded by one of Cook’s friends, who was helping to record a prank video for Cook’s channel. The video shows Cook holding his phone near Colie’s ear and using Google Translate to play a phrase out loud four times, while Colie backed away.

When he testified, Colie recalled how Cook and his friend approached him from behind and put the phone about 6 inches away from his face. He described feeling confused by the phrase Cook was playing. Colie told the jury the two looked “really cold and angry.” He also acknowledged carrying a gun during work as a way to protect himself after seeing reports of other delivery service drivers being robbed.

“Colie walked into the mall to do his job with no intention of interacting with Tanner Cook. None,” Adam Pouilliard, Colie’s defense attorney, said. "He’s sitting next to his defense attorneys right now. How’s that for a consequence?”

The Commonwealth argued that Cook was never armed, never placed hands on Colie and never posed a threat. They stressed that just because Cook may not seem like a saint or his occupation makes him appear undesirable, that a conviction is warranted.

“We don’t like our personal space invaded, but that does not justify the ability to shoot someone in a public space during an interaction that lasted for only 20 seconds,” Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Eden Holmes said.

The jury began deliberating around 11:30 a.m. Thursday. Shortly after 3:30 p.m., the jury came back saying they were divided and couldn’t come to a resolution. The judge instructed them to continue deliberating and later returned with the not-guilty verdict.

WUSA9 caught up with the Cook family following the verdict. When we asked Tanner Cook how he felt about the outcome, he said it is all up to God.

“I really don’t care, I mean it is what it is,” he said. “It’s God’s plan at the end of the day.”

His mother, Marla Elam, said the family respects the jury and that the Cook family is just thankful Tanner is alive.

“Nothing else matters right now,” she said.

Here’s the video by NBC Washington, apologies that it’s served by Discord

  • @enki@lemm.ee
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    311 year ago

    In what fucking world does that level of harassment justify possibly taking a life? Yes, fuck these shitty YouTube/TikTok prank content creators, but if someone is harassing you like this you call security, or you call the cops. No reasonable human being should think that level of force is justified for that offense. I say this as a lifelong gun owner and someone who sat on a jury and voted to acquit someone who fatally shot another person in self-defense.

    There’s plenty of situations where deadly force is reasonable. This one isn’t it, chief, and it’s a real bad hill to die on for gun owners.

    • FIash Mob #5678
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      221 year ago

      In what fucking world does that level of harassment justify possibly taking a life?

      America, that’s where.

      Here it seems normal to many to end an argument with a bullet, but I’m with you. It’s absurd. The shooter should have removed themselves from the situation and reported it.

      • @OrangeJoe@lemm.ee
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        271 year ago

        So, I am absolutely not defending the shooting itself, but everything I have read about this is that he definitely tried to remove himself from the situation but the “prankster” followed him and continued to harass him.

        And to make things worse, the so called prankster had already been kicked out of the mall the day before and came back and was specifically trying to avoid security.

        So yea, shooting was almost certainly an overreaction, but I do then wonder how exactly you are supposed to deal with something like this when this asshole won’t listen and won’t let you leave.

        • pbjamm
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          51 year ago

          Punch in the face? Only in the USA would it be OK to shoot someone for being an asshole in the mall.

          • @OrangeJoe@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            I wasn’t saying it was ok to shoot this guy. But a large guy starts harassing you at the mall, doesn’t listen to you when you ask him to stop, advances on you when you try to leave, could very well have had a gun as well (since this is the US), and you think punching him in the face would have worked? In hindsight, maybe. All that to say is I feel sympathy for this guy even though he escalated it beyond what was necessary.

        • @enki@lemm.ee
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          31 year ago

          He’s a delivery driver, so one might assume he has a car that he could get in, lock his doors, even drive away. So no, I don’t believe he legitimately tried to remove himself from the situation.

          This is the problem with permitless carry. You don’t need any knowledge of firearm safety or the law, any idiot can freely walk around with a loaded gun in their pants. There are a lot of fucked up people just looking for an excuse to shoot someone. Way too many gun owners fantasize about being a hero, but the truth is, especially with owners that have no training or education around firearms, that you’re exponentially more likely to be killed by your own firearm than you are to ever stop a crime.

          I stopped carrying years ago and just keep my pistol in a gun safe by my bed now. But I’ve taken the course to get my permit, and it was terrifying how ignorant and even bloodthirsty a lot of the people in that course were. I love going to the range, and I like having a firearm in the home for defense, but we need better gun laws and better mental health care in the US. And while I’d prefer better laws, if the only option was the way it is now or a full ban on firearms, I’ll take the full ban. I don’t want to worry about my daughter being murdered at her school.

          The number one cause of death in children in the US every year since 2020 has been firearms.

          • @OrangeJoe@lemm.ee
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            61 year ago

            He was in a food court in a mall, not exactly near his car.

            Again though, I agree with the sentiment here. Guns should not be the answer to something like this, and shooting was almost certainly an overreaction.

            But since it is the US there’s no way to know either of the prankster had a gun and was potentially ready to use it too.

            All of that to say is that while I think shooting was not warranted, I, and a lot of others it seems, feel a lot of sympathy for this guy who was just minding his own business, felt threatened, and has probably had his life ruined because of what he felt he needed to do because of the actions of this asshole YouTuber.

    • @Dra@lemmy.zip
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      1 year ago

      The entire thread on reddit was shocking. The vast, overwhelming majority of people said it was good. Tremendous respect for being the exception

    • @NattyNatty2x4@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      Makes me wonder if he got off because of the specific charges that were levied. Is there not some sort of ‘negligent use of force’ charge that can be used when someone retaliates with unnecessary force?