Video played in court shows the encounter between a YouTube prankster and the food delivery driver who shot him inside a Virginia mall.
A jury on Thursday found 31-year-old Alan Colie not guilty of aggravated malicious wounding in the shooting of 21-year-old Tanner Cook, who runs the “Classified Goons” YouTube channel. The jury was split on two lesser firearms counts and decided to convict him on one and acquit him on the other.
Cook made a nonsensical recording on his cellphone, and on April 2, he approached Colie in the food court of Dulles Towne Center and followed Colie while playing the audio.
The video shows Colie backing away from Cook, telling Cook to stop three times and trying to push the cellphone away from his face.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
After about 20 seconds, Colie pulled out a gun and shot Cook.
Many on social media supported Colie, saying Cook was harassing a stranger.
Prosecutors told the jury Colie took a gun to a cellphone fight, but the jury sided with Colie’s self-defense claim, which is usually reserved for someone who has good reason to believe that they’re in serious physical danger.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
Colie was found not guilty of aggravated malicious wounding and malicious discharge though he still faces charges of shooting into an occupied dwelling. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
Cook says he plans to continue making his YouTube prank videos.
