Prank YouTuber Tanner Cook shot at mall after practical joke goes wrong

Up-and-coming prank YouTuber Tanner Cook was shot at a Virginia mall after one of his practical jokes took a serious turn.

21-year-old Tanner Cook is a YouTuber who specializes in pranks. His channel, named ‘Classified Goons,’ boasts over 38,000 subscribers and features a swath of practical jokes played by himself and a buddy on unsuspecting passersby.

From “fake vomiting on Uber drivers” to “taking rackets from tennis players,” it seems like there’s nothing the Classified Goons won’t do for a good prank… but one of their stunts went awry in the worst way possible.

Over the weekend, Cook was pulling more practical jokes in the Dulles Town Center mall in Sterling, Virginia when a scuffle reportedly broke out between the YouTuber and a shopper at the food court.

YouTube prankster shot after practical joke goes awry

As a result, Cook was shot by the shopper, receiving “serious” injuries to his stomach and liver. Luckily, Cook is alive and recovering in the hospital after spending a day in the intensive care unit.

Loudoun County officials charged the shooter with “aggravated malicious wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and discharging a firearm within a building.”

In a statement to WUSA9, Cook claimed that the shooter didn’t take his prank “very well” while he was shooting his video — which is now evidence in the ongoing investigation.

“I was playing a prank and a simple practical joke, and this guy didn’t take it very well,” Cook said. “He didn’t say anything to me.”

This is far from the first time a YouTube prank has gone wrong; in fact, two YouTubers ended up getting sued by the University of Southern California after pretending to be part of the mafia for a joke.

Even the NELK Boys’ Kyle Forgeard ended up getting arrested in Dallas, Texas after pulling a prank where he impersonated a security officer back in 2021.