A man in Amsterdam allegedly shoots two teenagers after receiving a prank call from a YouTuber. The YouTuber denies all allegations.
Prank content on YouTube is notorious for escalating and going too far. The clickchase drives creators into more and more dangerous pranks. This prank call seemed to be pretty harmless at first but escalated to a level no one could have seen coming. The YouTuber himself denies having anything to do with the case.
Prank Call Gone Wrong
Dutch YouTuber Rouand YT regularly uploads prank videos and livestreams himself pranking people on Omegle or over the phone. In his streams viewers can donate and give a phone number to make the YouTuber prank call a specific person.
The Dutch Prosecution Service claims that Efe Y. received a call through a prank-call format regularly used on the Rouand YT channel. A viewer supposedly donated €5 to have Efe Y. called and pranked with a fake "gangster story," saying: "You're getting money and you're from Rotterdam South". The influencer allegedly asked Y. in the call full of profanities to go to a "blue bridge".
Prosecuters maintain that around half an hour later, Efe Y. went to Wiedijk-Park and encountered 3 clueless Syrian teens living at asylum seeker centres on their way to McDonald's. Not one word was said before shots were fired. Two of the teens died while one was able to escape. The Dutch Public Prosecution Service told the court the victims were “in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Investigations
The investigations concerning the shooting are still ongoing but witnesses have come forward stating that Y. confessed to a friend to be the shooter. While searching his house, police also found a weapon as well as smoke marks on his pants. Moreover, he was likely seen on the CCTV footage of the park at that time.
The suspect reportedly suffers from multiple mental illnesses including PTSD and schizophrenia but had not taken his medication for six months.
Is The YouTuber Involved?
Rouand YT himself has explained to AT5 that he was shocked to hear about the incident but did not have anything to do with it.
I wasn't even live that day. It was impossible for me to pull off that prank.
The Public Prosecution Service has heard Rouand YT as a witness and emphasized that he is not a suspect.
The YouTube and Instagram profile RealityFBI reportedly casts doubt on Rouand YT's statement. They claim the YouTuber erased all clips and livestreams from that fateful New Years Day.
And as it turns out, RealityFBI was kind of right. RTL Nieuws reported that the YouTuber´s lawyer now stated that his initial denial was based on incorrect information about the date.
Yesterday, partly due to uncertainty for him regarding the date, my client recorded a video as a first reaction in which he denies the prank. Upon further analysis of the information now known to my client, he must retract this denial. My client regrets the confusion that has arisen.
Roethof, the lawyer, still maintains that RouandTV is not regarded as a suspect, but a witness by police.
It cannot be concluded that my client's prank was the cause of the shooting. All this does not alter the fact that my client is reflecting on his own behavior and that he finds it terrible that this shooting took place.
The next preliminary hearing is set for July 8.
Although Rouand YT's role in this is debatable, this incident still shows how far seemingly harmless pranks can go. If you do not know whoever is on the receiving end, you cannot know what that person will do. Prank content is receiving growing criticism with creators getting into more and more trouble, harassing people and doing dangerous stunts. Normally these influencers are (mildly) annoying and maybe get arrested or banned, but this case shows consequences can even be fatal.
