Web prank horror: Man shot dead while pretending to rob someone at knife-point for a YouTube video
- Reference: 1612841347
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/02/09/man_fatally_shot_during_prank/
- Source link:
The police in [1]a statement said investigators have been told Wilks and a friend tried to carry out a prank robbery for a YouTube video.
[2]
The pair, armed with butcher knives, are said to have approached a group of people to pretend to rob them, prompting one of member of the party, David Starnes Jr, 23, to draw his gun and fire.
Starnes admitted to police he shot Wilks and said he did so in self-defense. He told the cops he was not aware the robbery was a prank. No charges have been filed against Starnes and the investigation remains ongoing.
[3]
On Monday, a spokesperson for the Nashville Metropolitan Police had no further information to provide.
Pranks and stunts staged for social media engagement have gone wrong before. In August, 2020, twins Alex and Alan Stokes, who have millions of followers on YouTube and TikTok, were charged with felony false imprisonment for allegedly holding an Uber driver at gunpoint as a prank a year earlier.
According to the Orange County District Attorney's Office, the twins, wearing ski masks and carrying a duffle bag supposedly filled with cash [4]summoned an Uber ride on October 15, 2019. The driver, who had not been let in on the prank, refused to drive them and a bystander who saw the incident believed the twins were attempting a carjacking.
Art heist 'pranksters' sent down for six months [5]READ MORE
The police let the twins go with a warning. But according to the Orange County DA, the Stokes brothers engaged in another prank robbery four hours later at the University of California, Irvine, that also resulted in a 911 emergency call.
The twins [6]pleaded not guilty last year. A spokesperson for the Orange County District Attorney told The Register that a preliminary court hearing for the Stokes twins is scheduled for February 25, 2021.
In January, 2019, YouTube [7]updated its policies to forbid "pranks that lead victims to fear imminent serious physical danger, or that create serious emotional distress in minors."
[8]
This after Monalisa Perez of Halstad, Minnesota, [9]fatally shot her boyfriend, Pedro Ruiz III, in 2017. The couple were filming a video stunt intended for YouTube that aimed to prove a book could stop a .50 caliber bullet. ®
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[1] https://www.nashville.gov/News-Media/News-Article/ID/10587/SelfDefense-Claim-Under-Investigation-in-Friday-Night-Fatal-Shooting-in-Hermitage.aspx
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_bootnotes/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YCIW6d1gaE2trSht7uSX-AAAAFI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_bootnotes/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YCIW6d1gaE2trSht7uSX-AAAAFI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] http://orangecountyda.org/civica/press/display.asp?layout=15&Entry=6041
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2016/05/16/judge_fails_to_see_the_funny_side_of_pretend_heist_and_jails_internet_pranksters/
[6] https://www.ocregister.com/2020/09/15/tiktok-twin-stars-alan-and-alex-stokes-deny-a-crime-was-committed-in-irvine-youtube-prank/
[7] https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/1063345?hl=en
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_bootnotes/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YCIW6d1gaE2trSht7uSX-AAAAFI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/us/youtube-shooting-minnesota-guilty-plea.html
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: This is why they should be banned.
Careful or you will get flamed for breaking [1]Poe's law .
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law
Re: This is why they should be banned.
"Poe's law" is not really a law, it's an adage. You can't break an adage, all you can do is demonstrate it.
Re: This is why they should be banned.
Sorry, I was too busy shaving with Occam's razor. Pfff, bring on the flames. I say there are two kinds of people in this world, those that say there are two kinds of people in this world and the others.
OMG
You didn't set the prank up BEFORE you started this??! You just cold-walked up to a stranger and "prank" robbed them, expecting everything to go just peachy for your YT clicks??!!
This is a tragedy beyond comprehension, someone has lost their life over this stupidity. Same thing with the 20-year old who committed suicide, believing that he owed $700,000+ to Robinhood thanks to stupid system mistakes. This kind of thing really needs to stop.
Born idiots. All of 'em.
The only thing alpha-tube changes is that the audience laughing at their stupidity, and crying when an innocent gets hurt or killed, is larger. Perhaps putting the sentencing phase of their trial on the same anti-social media where they broadcast the commission of the crime would minimize other idiots from attempting to emulate them?
Throw the book at them using existing law! No need to make new laws. It's already illegal to carjack somebody, or attempt strong-arm robbery armed with a knife, or to shoot somebody with a firearm. It is not a "prank" when the victim truly believes he's being carjacked or robbed or shot. Being on youtube (or whatever) doesn't change this. Make an example of them. And do it in Internet time, don't drag it through the courts for years.
Wait for it...
Latest Darwin Award candidates right here, folks.
This is why they should be banned.
Video sharing sites like youtube, of course. Gun's don't kill people.People kill people. Sheesh.