YouTuber’s Prank Attempt Fails, Gets Shot By His Target

A YouTuber’s practical joke went horribly wrong when the intended target got mad and shot him in the abdomen.

Tanner Cook, who runs the channel Classified Goons, was shot when he tried to prank a stranger inside a Virginia mall Sunday. The bullet pierced his stomach and liver, WUSA-TV reported.

Tanner was rushed to a hospital and he remained in the intensive care unit (ICU) until the next morning. Though his identity wasn’t immediately revealed by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, it was made public during the arraignment for the suspect, identified as 31-year-old Alan Colie, of Leesburg.

Tanner had to undergo surgery. His father, Jeramy Cook, told Insider that his son’s gall bladder was removed and he was put on heavy medication to cope with the pain.

“They were making a video at the mall and trying to have fun with people and this guy wasn’t having fun,” Jeramy told WUSA. “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.”

“I was playing a prank, a simple practical joke, and this guy didn’t take it very well and shot me,” Tanner said.

Colie was at the mall when Tanner approached him and tried to prank him using Google Translate. Tanner held his phone close to Colie’s face, which angered the latter and a fight broke out between the men. Colie then pulled out a gun and shot the YouTuber.

He was arrested and charged with aggravated malicious wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and discharging a firearm within a building, People reported. He is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning.

Colie has been assigned legal representation.

“We need restoration, we need healing, and we need to come together,” Jeramy said. “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.”