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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by ram@bookwormstory.social to c/news@lemmy.world

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

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[-] ram@bookwormstory.social 155 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm glad he got off on the first two charges, but his lawyer argues that the third charge, "shooting in an occupied dwelling" shouldn't be applicable since it was deemed self defence. The judge will be hearing arguments for this next month.^[https://newsio.com/2023/09/29/alan-colie-man-who-shot-youtube-prankster-at-virginia-shopping-centre-acquitted/]

Also, dude's now spent 6 months in jail, only to be found not guilty of at least 2/3rds of the charges. Is there any compensation he'll get for those missing months of his life? He's already been punished, and yet he's still presumed innocent.

[-] radix@lemmy.world 77 points 1 year ago

It is certainly a weird conclusion. You CAN defend yourself. You CAN defend yourself with a gun. You CANNOT defend yourself with a gun indoors?

[-] meco03211@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

No no. You can defend yourself with a gun indoors. You just can't shoot it. Perhaps a pistol whipping?

[-] phx@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

More that the nature of the indoors location had an increased likelihood of hitting a innocent bystander.

Maybe you're more justified in somebody if it's a 2-on-1 situation and you feel like your life is threatened, but pull out a gun and start blasting and you also put the lives of anyone within a certain distance around your target in danger.

Given the lack of apparent weapons on the "assailants", drawing on them might have been sufficient to disengage and assess without actually needing to fire the weapon at all

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[-] pixxelkick@lemmy.world 126 points 1 year ago

I think the key here is the fact there were 2 people who approached Colie. That substantially shifts the power balance. Its one thing when its 1 on 1 alone and the other person isn't directly harming you yet, but acting threatening.

When you add a second person who is also engaging in your personal space though, the balance shifts and I think thats what completely justifies a preventative self defence, because when it comes to 2 on 1 you're margin of safety thins dramatically.

To be specific:

If a single person is threatening you, then abruptly shifts to try and attack you, you have a fairly decent window of safety. You can turn and flee, you can push them away, etc etc. You're ability to defend yourself after attacked is still quite reasonable.

If two people are threatening though, those options shrink down a lot. The second person can block off your escape, they can both grab you, etc. Once any of that happens you're ability to defend yourself after attacked is very very unlikely.

So when its 2 on 1, you are a lot more justified to just shoot the person before they actually attack you, because you likely won't get the chance to shoot them anyways after they attack.

In other words, if Cook hadn't brought a friend along I think the outcome would have been very very different.

[-] ram@bookwormstory.social 134 points 1 year ago

I think also a big part of why Colie was found not-guilty is that he disengaged, said 3 times "stop" including attempting to swipe away Cook, and only then did he take violent action to end the perceived threat. He fired a single round low into Cook, and then immediately retreated from the scene.

The argument at hand isn't whether or not he was acting in self defence, but whether he used proportional force to justify it as such, and the jury found that it was proportional, likely due to the factors you described.

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[-] shalafi@lemmy.world 52 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

For context, I'm a liberal gun owner who doesn't carry all the time.

At first, I felt the shooter was on very thin ice. Your comment completely shifted my view on the situation. I might well have taken the shot myself, given the 2 on 1, and one coming from behind.

And remember kids! This is why we wait for a court of law to bring out the evidence before forming a solid opinion!

Thanks you so much for changing my mind, and doing so in a sane and logical manner.

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[-] iforgotmyinstance@lemmy.world 92 points 1 year ago

When "it's just a prank bro" goes too far. Imagine having consequences to your actions.

[-] brainrein@feddit.de 52 points 1 year ago

Just another reminder how stupid American laws on weapons are. In every normal country this couldn’t happen because that guy wouldn’t have a gun in the first place. It would have ended in a fight or in the shooter suing the prankster and getting a lot of money while the prankster would be told by court to stop this stupid pranks.

[-] ram@bookwormstory.social 34 points 1 year ago

The moment a gun is involved, every single confrontation has a skyrocketing rate of lethality.

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[-] KombatWombat@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

My brother had a gun pulled on him while delivering a pizza. I don't blame delivery people for arming themselves with the unfamiliar situations they have to put themselves in regularly. So long as the strangers they interact with may be armed it's just an arms race.

Also, in this specific situation where someone comes up behind you and gets in your face something like a knife would be just as deadly.

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[-] torknorggren@lemm.ee 50 points 1 year ago

I'm really surprised the DA took this to trial. I can't imagine a jury in the US that would have returned a conviction.

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[-] Chunk@lemmy.world 40 points 1 year ago

Personally I don't care what the law says. I'm happy the YouTuber got shot and I am happy the shooter went free.

[-] ram@bookwormstory.social 15 points 1 year ago

He's still needing to fight the charge for shooting into an occupied dwelling - judge is hearing arguments in October. He's also been in police custody since the incident 6 months ago. I hope he wins though. I think the gun was too far, but the increase in lethality in any situation where someone has a gun is well known and documented, and comes down to a policy issue rather than his own personal failing imo.

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[-] spark947@lemm.ee 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don't like this behavior either. But the answer isn't to start shooting. America is gross.

[-] Sax_Offender@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

This happened in Dulles--just west of Washington, D.C.--not Dallas, TX.

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[-] JokeDeity@lemm.ee 18 points 1 year ago

Piece of shit is lucky to be alive. Hope he learned from this, but I doubt it, they never do.

I don't understand how you can rightfully find him not guilty by self defense and then still have him criminally liable for firing a gun in a mall.

[-] ram@bookwormstory.social 21 points 1 year ago

He didn't, he was making fun of the whole thing in an interview and said he'd continue doing his malicious pranks all the same.

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this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2023
504 points (98.3% liked)

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