“I really don’t care. I mean it is what it is,” the YouTuber said.
Never-before-seen video shows what led to the shooting of YouTube prankster Tanner Cook.
The video captures Cook holding his phone to Alan Colie’s face, who was holding a bag of food he picked up at a food court inside a Virginia mall.
At one point, 31-year-old Colie shoved the phone away, but the 21-year-old prankster continued to shove his phone to Colie’s face.
Colie then fired a gunshot into Cook’s stomach and liver. Cook survived.
Colie was arrested and claimed he felt threatened and acted in self defense. He was found not guilty of aggravated malicious wounding by a jury last week.
Cook was seen leaving court with his mother after the verdict. He expressed his indifference about the jury’s decision.
“I really don’t care. I mean it is what it is,” Cook said.
His mother is happy her son is alive and well.
“That was the first time I’d seen the video. No mom wants to see their son be shot by a complete stranger,” she said. “We respect what the jury says and my family and I are just grateful and thankful that I have my son here.”
His father says in his opinion, the jury is wrong.
“Absolutely that he was guilty,” his father tells Inside Edition. “The 20-second video shows that in no way was his life on the line and he did not have to use deadly force.”
The prankster is being vilified online for his boorish behavior. The shooting was a headline on the "Saturday Night Live" Weekend Update in April.
Cook’s YouTube channel includes him posing as a security guard and falsely accusing people of shoplifting.
“I support Tanner in whatever he decides to do and I’m gonna continue supporting him,” the YouTuber’s mother said.
Meanwhile, the prankster says he still plans to continue making YouTube prank videos.
