A jury has found a delivery driver not guilty in the shooting of a YouTube prankster who was following him around a mall food court earlier this year
These are the types of people who don’t understand consent. They shove a camera six inches from your face, say nonsensical bullshit, keep following you when you back up, don’t listen when you repeatedly say No and Stop, yet are all shocked Pikachu when someone finally has enough. Fuck these “pranksters”. I hope his next injury is worse, because we all know this literal warning shot wasn’t enough and he’s going to continue.
I don’t think a shot in the abdomen counts as a “literal warning shot”. I think it’s more of just a shot shot.
In the context of not being fucking dead, it’s a warning.
It’s still not a warning shot.
Homeboy still ain’t dead is he? He was told to stop 3 times and kept doing his bullshit.
I have no sympathy. Maybe fuck off when you’ve been asked to stop 3 times. Maybe the next person he tries this on will have better aim.
Still not a warning shot.
Exactly.
Also warning shots are stupid and dangerous.
If you are in imminent enough danger to be discharging your firearm, It should be discharged into the danger.
By firing warning shots, you are showing that you are not in imminent threat, because if you were, you wouldnt be wasting time shooting into the air or off to the side, both of which has a decent probability of ruining some innocent persons good day.
Whats the guy supposed to do, just shoot up in the air? Or maybe carefully aim and shot by his foot just enough threaten him? Or maybe just show the gun to this much bigger guy whos already harrassing him? Any of those situations could either result in a bystander getting hit, or the victim getting killed when his assualter pulls his own gun out.
He did the right thing to protect himself. However he should not have been placed into this situation, all the fault should fall on the aggressor. But instead this victim is being held in jail and might be charged a felony for protecting himself from some deranged youtube asshole, WHO IS PROFITTING FROM THIS CRIME. The victim wouldve been better off if he had got a kill shot.
I think if the Youtuber dies, the jury convicts him. It shouldn’t be a factor, but you know it is.
I know! He was supposed to go all Yosemite Sam on his ass and yell ‘dance, partner!’ while discharging his firearm at the assailant’s feet very quickly. Hillarity would have surely ensued! /s
Whats the guy supposed to do
Back away, run away, call 911, get a mall cop to help, throw a punch…
Literally just about anything other than try to kill another guy.
I mean you actually admitted it yourself without meaning to: “guy whos already harrassing him”. Harassing isn’t threatening. It’s annoying, but it doesn’t make you fear for your life. The other guy didn’t have a weapon, didn’t make physical contact, didn’t threaten him, he just aggressively harassed him. Nobody should die in that situation.
I hope his next injury is worse, because we all know this literal warning shot wasn’t enough and he’s going to continue.
…trying to out-Jackass Steve-O.
I didn’t watch Steve-o’s own show but were there any Jackass skits where they accosted sometime who wasn’t in their crew? Some of them happened in public but they were still members of the crew being stupid and filming the publics reaction from afar.
That said, maybe I’m forgetting a skit?
Oh yeah big time, I feel.like they understood the risks to themselves when doing their skits however.
one of the best https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C1Pr4AU2wc
Good.
Man doesnt deserve jail for shooting the piece of shit.
he deserves a medal, and a license to go do it to more of those tiktok assholes.
They’re both pieces of shit. You shouldn’t shoot someone without a reasonable fear of your life (or arguably property) being in danger. This situation wasn’t there yet. The fuckface was just being intentionally annoying.
The Youtuber should be in jail for harassment or assault. The shooter should be taking a nice plea deal for a low amount of prison time.
You can’t just shoot someone in the middle of the mall because they’re annoying.
After watching the video of the incident, I don’t blame the driver for shooting him at all.
The “prankster” was acting really creepy and was being right up in the guys face after being asked to stop. Even after trying to walk away, the “prankster” still came right up to him, holding his phone right up to his face.
Fuck that guy. He deserved to get shot. He said he’s gonna keep making those videos, and I hope he gets shot again, but hopefully the next time is the last time.
Yeah, all the people crying about how unjustified the shooting was, would probably shit their pants if two huge guys came up to them, were physically aggressive while chasing and trying to corner them and constantly in physical contact and shoving shit in their face.
You have no idea its a couple of dickheads making a video because they think harassing innocent people is funny. For all you know you’re about to be assaulted, robbed, or worse by someone that should be in a mental health facility.
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This is such a bad ruling. Not only does that jackass get off with no punishment he is even being rewarded for his crimes! Setting the precedence for other pranksters to assault people more and more, and when they fuck around and find out, all they’ll be finding is more viewers and more money.
Should dude had shot him? Thats not my place to say, but if he did indeed feel threatened, which the jury agreed, then he should not be punished for reacting to being assaulted like this.
Its like some people online want the victim to get in trouble for simply owning and carrying a gun, its ridiculous! The victim was being assualted full stop! Not his fault for using what his legally own gun is meant for.
Uh… the guy who shot the YouTuber isn’t being punished; they found him not guilty. The YouTuber isn’t being punished because this case wasn’t about his actions, it was about the dude who shot him. He’s not being rewarded, though.
The only weird part about the ruling is the jury wants to convict on the “gun charges” (that’s what the article referenced, doesn’t say what that means) but acquitted him on the shooting.
The victim is being punished! He is recieving a felony for protecting himself just because it took place in a building. And that dumb youtuber was rewarded by having his followers almost double after the fact, which equates to more money, while the victim is sitting in jail.
The only weird part about the ruling is the jury wants to convict on the “gun charges” (that’s what the article referenced, doesn’t say what that means) but acquitted him on the shooting.
The original three charges (I don’t know if any were modified later) were “aggravated malicious wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and discharging a firearm within a building”. In Virginia, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony acts as a multiplier charge for malicious wounding. My guess is that he was acquitted of malicious wounding and use of a firearm in commission of a felony, and convicted of discharging a firearm inside a building.
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This is such a bad ruling.
It’s not a ruling. That’s what judges do. This was a verdict, which is returned by a jury.
Okay? Im not a lawyer, so whats your point.
A) it says he was acquitted of one charge, but convicted of another. I’m trying to figure out what the second charge was, except
B) all the news sites that popped up at the top of Google search are literally identical. Cool.
Since the second charge depends on the first, which he was acquitted of, I’m guessing he was convicted of the third.
That would corroborate his lawyers saying that a conviction after a finding of a lack of malice is inconsistent.
That would corroborate his lawyers saying that a conviction after a finding of a lack of malice is inconsistent.
Except the next paragraph says:
If any such act be done unlawfully, but not maliciously, the person so offending is guilty of a Class 6 felony;
But, if the shooting was in self-defense, was it unlawful? Maybe the guy was legally allowed to defend himself, but not legally allowed to shoot a gun inside a crowded food court. Like, the self-defense covers him for injuring another person, but it doesn’t cover the danger he posed to other people when he did it?
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I know everyone loves when YouTube pranksters get whats coming but shooting someone over a mild annoyance is never a good thing. This is why america seems fucking nuts to anyone that doesn’t live there.
Somebody approaching you, even though you’re trying to move away and telling them to stop, is not a “mild annoyance”. It’s dangerous because weapons are so freely available. It would be better if they weren’t, but while they are, you shouldn’t do something like this.
It’s not enough to shoot someone in any civilised country.
It’s important to realize that the confrontation lasted 30 seconds. That’s the amount of time he waited before almost killing someone.
He wasn’t being chased in a dark alley or stalked for half a hour, someone played loud noises in his face and it took a total of 30 seconds for him to decide to shoot someone over it. Literally insane.
Anyone you say?
Sure.
Yes. Your country has a shit reputation because of the gun cult, the shootings, the constant war mongering, the blatant racism and homophobia, and the Christian lobby that fuels all of the above.
Being the world’s economic leader doesn’t mean your internal policies can’t be shit, grow up.
When Trump was visiting foreign countries, they literally flew giant ballons mocking him lmao.
Although I don’t like the guy pulling the pranks, he should not have gotten shot. A gun is a weapon of last resort. The consequences are irreversible.
Would I liked to have seen him get pepper sprayed, punched, or tazed though? Hell yeah!
I mean, he got shot and he’s recovered so… in this case the consequences were definitely reversible.
I wouldn’t be surpised if he had complications from that for the rest of his life.
Pulling out a gun should have a VERY HIGH bar. This kid is clearly an idiot but was the bar high enough to kill him?
Running a youtube prank channel should justify a drone strike.
What would you have done in that situation?
Walked away, if necessary run away? Maybe throw a punch?
He did try to back away. And punching someone significantly larger than oneself is generally unwise.
He didn’t continue to back away. He didn’t run. Punching someone bigger is unwise, but not as unwise as trying to kill someone who arguably didn’t even commit a crime.
From the description of the incident, it definitely sounded like he feared for his life. A 6 foot something guy keeps advancing on him, asking why he’s thinking of the guy’s penis. He tells the guy to leave him alone multiple times, but the guy keeps advancing. He retreats multiple times, but the guy keeps at it. He even tries knocking the phone out of the guy’s hand, but the guy keeps at it.
It definitely sounds like the guy was afraid of where this was going and tried all of the non-lethal options (retreat, tell the person to stop) before resorting to pulling out his gun. The YouTube “pranker” has nobody to blame but himself. He should have stopped when asked instead of repeatedly pressing the defendant for a YouTube “prank” video.
(I use “prank” in quotes because I don’t consider this type of thing a real prank. It’s just a guy acting like an idiot and calling it “a prank.” A real prank should leave all involved laughing when it’s revealed, not leave one person fearing for their life.)
He was in a public food court at a mall during lunch
This sounds like jury nullification more than an actual legal judgment.
