LEESBURG, Va. — "It is what it is," that is how Prank YouTuber Tanner Cook reacted after a jury found the man who shot him inside Dulles Town Center in April not guilty.
A 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 was standing trial for shooting Tanner Cook, the 21-year-old behind the YouTube channel "Classified Goons."
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.”
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.
Tanner's father, Jeramy Cook, sent a statement to WUSA9 Thursday night saying, "We are all less safe than before."
Jeramy Cook called the verdict a product of mob rule. He said that the media painted Tanner as the aggressor and Colie as the victim.
"Right after this shooting, Saturday Night Live reported on their Weekend Update that a YouTuber doing a prank video at a Virginia mall was shot, then paused, starred into the camera and said good," said Jeramy Cook. "Everyone laughed, so millions of people saw this and just went with it."
He said that he was told by the Loudoun County prosecutor that even though the facts supported his son being the victim, public opinion wasn't with him.
Jeramy Cook added that his family has been targeted and harassed by people saying his son should have been killed.
"So is it open season on YouTubers even if they don't touch or talk to you," he said. "It's cool to just shoot them no matter what the facts are?"
Jeramy Cook ended the statement by saying the world is living in a time where public opinion can be easily manipulated.
"Mob is more important than the rule of law," he said. "This is the real danger for all of us."