Youtube prankster shot as victim opens fire in response to mall practical joke
Tanner Cook, 21, is recovering after suffering a gunshot wound to his stomach
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A Youtuber was shot while filming a prank at a Virginia mall.
Tanner Cook, 21, is receiving treatment at an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Sterling following the incident on 2 April. Ms Cook told CBS affiliate WUSA9 that he was filming a video for his YouTube channel at the Dulles Town Center mall when suspect Alan Colie, 31, allegedly fired at him.
“They were making a video at the mall and trying to have fun with people and this guy wasn’t having fun,” Ms Cook’s father Jeramy Cook also told the station. “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.”
Mr Colie has been charged with malicious wounding, use of a firearm and discharging a firearm inside a building.
Mr Cook said the suspect did not say anything to him before the attack.
“I was playing a prank and a simple practical joke, and this guy didn’t take it very well,” he told WUSA9. “He didn’t say anything to me.”
The mall was closed for the day following the incident. Several customers reportedly left terrified.
“I’ve heard from so many of my constituents and they’re traumatized,” Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall told WUSA9. “The victims are more than just people directly involved. People have secondary trauma from this and may never walk back into this mall again.”