Delivery driver not guilty in shooting death of YouTube prankster

A jury has found a delivery driver not guilty in the shooting death of a YouTube prankster in a Virginia mall food court.

On Thursday, a jury acquitted 31-year-old Alan Colie of charges of aggravated assault and intentional shooting in an occupied building in the shooting death of 21-year-old Tanner Cook. The jury found Colie guilty of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Colie pleaded not guilty and said he acted in self-defense. Colie has a license to carry a concealed weapon.

Colie has been incarcerated since the April shooting and will remain in prison. Colie is due back in court on October 19.

On April 2, Cook and another person approached Colie in the food court at Dulles Town Center in Sterling, Virginia. Colie, a driver for DoorDash, was picking up a food order. Cook gets in Colie’s face and pushes a phone within inches of the delivery driver. The phone plays an audio message repeatedly: “Hey Dips**t, stop thinking about my sparkle.”

The video shows Colie withdrawing from the situation, hitting the phone and telling Cook to “stop it” on three separate occasions. However, Cook continues to pursue him. Suddenly Colie pulls out a gun and shoots Cook.

As TheBlaze previously reported, Colie shot Cook and the bullet pierced his stomach and liver. Cook has since been released from the hospital.

Prosecutor Eden Holmes said she did not believe Colie was in immediate danger and said he did not act in self-defense.

“You played a silly phrase on the phone,” Holmes said. “How could the defendant determine that he had a reasonable fear of imminent physical harm?”

The bizarre encounter was part of a YouTube prank. Cook runs the YouTube channel Classified Goons, which has more than 50,000 subscribers, and often engages in public confrontations with negative consequences. The videos show Uber drivers feigning vomiting, taking away groceries, smashing store goods in front of employees and impersonating security guards.

Cook said He will continue to make “prank” videos on YouTube, earning up to $3,000 a month.

Tanner’s father, Jeramy Cook, recounted it WUSA“Immediately after that shooting, ‘Saturday Night Live’ reported in its Weekend Update that a YouTuber making a prank video at a mall in Virginia was filmed, then stopped, stared at the camera and said, ‘Good.'” Everyone laughed , so millions of people saw it and just joined in.”

The father added: “So it’s on for YouTubers, even if they don’t touch you or talk to you. Is it cool to just shoot them, no matter what the facts are?”

“Mob is more important than rule of law,” he declared. “That is the real danger for all of us.”

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