A 20-year-old man was shot to death during a “prank” robbery staged for social media Friday night in Tennesse, KTLA sister WKRN in Nashville reports.
Timothy Wilks was shot and killed in a parking lot at Urban Air on Old Hickory Boulevard in Hermitage around 9:20 p.m., according to a news release from the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.
Detectives were told Wilks and a friend were participating in a “prank” robbery as part of a YouTube video and approached a group of people, including the shooter, with butcher knives.
A 23-year-old man told police he wasn’t aware the robbery was a prank and shot Wilks, saying his actions were in “self-defense,” according to the release.
Several businesses are near the scene where the shooting happened, including a trampoline park.
“This is like a huge kids area, and when we were in there, there were a ton of tiny kids and it’s just like, that would not be a great idea,” Emily Yeager, a customer at the trampoline park, told WKRN. “Especially if anyone was walking out here or something like that.”
No charges have been filed, and the investigation is ongoing.
