Earlier this year, we covered the story of the Tanner Cook and Alan Colie shooting. To give a quick overview on the story: Tanner Cook, 21, is a self-proclaimed YouTube prankster who decided to mess with the wrong guy by approaching and holding up a phone to a random stranger – 31-year-old delivery driver, Alan Colie. Feeling threatened, Colie fired one round from his firearm into Cook’s abdomen, and the delivery driver was shot by a third party a result of it.
Despite being wounded and sent to the hospital, Cook vowed to keep on making pranks, all with a smile on his face. However, in the recently-concluded trial on the case, the jury acquitted Colie of the serious charge of aggravated malicious wounding, all because of a single video.
The video shows Cook, who made a nonsensical recording on his cellphone on April 2, approaching Colie in the food court of Dulles Towne Center, as he was picking up an order, and followed Colie while playing audio from his phone. Colie backs away from Cook, telling Cook to stop three times, and trying to push the cellphone away from his face before firing into the 21-year-old.
Colie pleaded not guilty, claiming he was acting in self-defence. After a five-hour deliberation, the jury was “divided in terms of whether the defendant acted in self-defence.” Colie’s attorney, Adam Pouilliard, argued that Cook’s intimidating stature of 195cm resulted in the defendant feeling intimidated by him, and Cook’s refusal to acknowledge Colie’s requests to “stop” and “no” made the argument of self-defence more reasonable.
The jury, however, agreed that Colie is guilty of shooting in an occupied dwelling – which means he will spend two to ten years in prison when he’s sentenced. Despite being the lesser of the two sentences, shooting in an occupied dwelling is still a pretty serious charge.
Given Colie’s acquittal on self-defense grounds, Pouilliard believes the conviction on the firearms charge is inconsistent with the law and asked the judge to set it aside. The issue will be discussed in a hearing scheduled for next month before another judge, so we might hear more about this story. Cook, on the other hand, remains unfazed and aims to continue making more videos.
Source: NBC Washington, NBC News, Twitter
