Prank videos are now frequently used by content producers to gain subscribers. The strategy appears to be effective based on the number of online stars who continue to record and publish prank videos.
Pranks are unfortunately oversaturated on the internet; yet, rather than looking for another means to go viral, content producers have chosen to amp up the antics, making them more absurd and risky.
It sometimes succeeds, but it can sometimes go horribly wrong.
Timothy Wilks regrettably lost his life as a result of his risky stunt to gain internet popularity. More about his tale is provided below.
Timothy Wilks was wounded while filming a mock heist
With butcher knives in hand, Timothy and a friend staged mock robberies in February 2021. They intended to capture people’s responses to being threatened with a knife.
The two decided to stage their fictitious crime in the parking lot of the Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park.
The two approached a gathering in the parking lot while brandishing their blades. David Starnes Jr. shot Timothy dead in retaliation after feeling threatened. Wilks’ pal made it out safely.
Starnes Jr. informed authorities that he had acted in self-defense and remained at the scene until emergency services arrived. David claimed he was unaware that the attempted heist was a joke.
A lawyer who spoke to the local Fox affiliate WZTV characterized the situation by saying, “I’m sure the folks involved would prefer to depict this as a hoax.” But it appears to have been a joke gone horribly wrong.
David and Wilks’ companion was not detained by the police.
Wilks’ grandma urged parents to keep an eye on their children’s online behavior
Shirley Berry, Timothy’s grandma, asked parents to keep an eye on their children’s online activities in the days following the tragic gunshot.
Berry claimed that she was unaware that Timothy had started a YouTube career.
She said to WKRN, “As far as this YouTube stuff goes, this is totally new to me that he was truly into it. It still remains largely a mystery to me.
Timothy, according to Shirley, was a “soft-spoken” student pursuing an HVAC career while in school. She claimed that his younger cousins and brothers looked up to him.
“I hardly even consider him a man. He will always be my baby, said Berry. “You really haven’t seen him grin all that much. He was constantly serious.
The distraught Tennessee grandmother argued that her grandson wasn’t a bad guy.
Shirley said, “I don’t want people to have any misconceptions about my grandson.
Shirley hoped that the tragedy would serve as a lesson and raise awareness of the dangers of seeking social media fame. Berry declared
“Please use this as a reminder to thoroughly monitor what your children are doing if they are acting in any way similar to his.
It is imperative that people understand how serious this is right now.
Many content producers have passed away while producing risky films on the internet
You’d be shocked by how many content producers have perished as a result of pranks gone awry.
In an unsuccessful prank, YouTuber Monalisa Perez fatally shot her lover Pedro Ruiz in 2017. Pedro and Perez felt that the heavy book Pedro was holding would deflect the close-range gunshot.
The notion had been tested by the two, and it had succeeded; however, in the trial run, Perez had stood farther away and Pedro had been holding a heavier book.
She stood about a foot away from Ruiz and fired the deadly shot. Pedro was killed when the bullet entered Pedro’s chest through the book.
Monalisa admitted to manslaughter while still carrying the couple’s second child. She was facing ten years of probation and 180 days in jail.
In the same year, an 11-year-old kid committed suicide, thinking his lover had also committed suicide.
Katrina Goss, the mother of Tysen Benz, claimed that social media posts made by Tysen’s girlfriend and her friends persuaded Benz that she had committed herself.
The New York Post was informed by Katrina that the woman “performed a hoax that made it look like she killed herself and utilized other pals and their [social media] profiles to make it look like she killed herself.”
Therefore, he declared that he would commit suicide after believing her.
Russian YouTuber Arslan Valeev recorded himself getting bitten by his black mamba live on camera. The lethal bite claimed his life.
YouTuber Rana Zuhair was shot in 2018 while posing as a ghost. In a park in Lahore, Pakistan, Rana approached a family while covering his head with a white sheet.
One of the family members fired first, instantly killing him.
The Stokes twins, commonly known as Alan and Alex Stokes, attempted to produce fictitious bank robbery movies in October 2019.
The pair called an Uber while wearing ski masks and carrying duffel bags of cash, but the driver wouldn’t take the twins.
Police were summoned by a witness, who then surrounded the law-abiding Uber driver and held him at gunpoint.
When the Uber driver was eventually freed, authorities accused the twins of wrongful detention and falsely reporting an emergency, both of which are felonies. The twins were just given a warning, though.
Stas Reeflay, a Russian YouTuber, accepted $1,000 from a fan in 2020 to harass Valentina Grigoryeva.
Valentina was dragged outside by Stas in subfreezing conditions. After numerous attempts to revive her, she passed away.
