I was wondering when something like this would happen. A prank turned deadly by using our heroes.
A 25-year-old man in California has been arrested over an alleged hoax 911 call that led to police killing an unarmed man in Kansas on Thursday night, authorities said. Tyler Barriss from South Los Angeles was arrested on a fugitive warrant Friday afternoon for allegedly making the so-called “swatting” call, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
The Wichita Police Department in Kansas is working with the Los Angeles Police Department as well as the FBI on this case. Among the lines of inquiry investigators are pursuing is whether the 911 call was connected to an online-gaming dispute, police said. Barriss is the same man who allegedly called in a bomb threat to ABC station KABC in 2015, which led to an evacuation of the Los Angeles television station, according to the Glendale Police Department in Los Angeles County. Barriss received a two-year sentence, court records show. “Barris served time after being charged by state authorities in Los Angeles for making threats and was released earlier this year,” the FBI said in a statement, but did not directly link the sentence to the KABC bomb threat. Thursday’s incident began around 6:18 p.m. Central Time when police received a 911 call about an alleged shooting with hostages at a residence in Wichita, Kansas.
The caller told authorities he had shot his father in the head while his parents were arguing, police said. The caller also said he was holding his other family members at gunpoint inside the home and was thinking about setting the house on fire, police said. The Wichita Police Department released audio of the phone call between the individual and the 911 dispatcher. “They were arguing and I shot him in the head and he’s not breathing anymore,” the caller says. “I’m just pointing the gun at them, making sure they stay in the closet, my mom and my little brother,” he says. “I already poured gasoline all over the house. I might just set it on fire.” The caller repeatedly gave authorities his alleged home address, leading Wichita police officers to the house.
Wichita police investigate a call of a possible hostage situation near the corner of McCormick and Seneca in Wichita, Ks Thursday night 12/28. A man was fatally shot by a police officer in what is believed to be a gaming prank called ‘swatting.’ (Fer (The Associated Press) Upon arriving at the scene, officers surrounded the front of the house, preparing to make contact with the caller inside and for the potential situation of a hostage barricaded with suspects, police said. A 28-year-old man opened the door of the home and was told to raise his hands and walk toward the officers — a command he obeyed for “a very short time” until he moved his hands back down to his waist, police said. The officers ordered him again to put his hands up but the man lowered them down again, police said. As the man turned toward officers on the east side of the home, he lowered his hands to his waistband and suddenly pulled them up to the officers, police said.
That’s when an officer on the north side of the home fired one round, striking the man. “He feared the male just pulled a weapon from his waistband, retrieved a gun and was in the process of pointing it at the officers to the east,” Deputy Chief Troy Livingston of the Wichita Police Department said at a press conference Friday. Officers then entered the home and found four individuals inside alive and unharmed, police said. The man who was shot was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead Thursday night.
Police didn’t find any weapons on him and officers learned he did not make the 911 call, according to Livingston. No one else was injured during the incident, police said. Lisa Finch, surrounded by family members reacts to the killing of her son Andrew Finch after he was shot Thursday evening, Dec. 28, 2017, by police, in Wichita, Kan. Authorities are investigating whether the deadly police shooting stemmed from someon (The Associated Press) Police have not yet released the identity of the man killed in the incident. But Wichita resident Lisa Finch identified him as her son, Andrew Finch, in an interview with reporters Friday morning.
Lisa Finch said that her son was a father of two young children, according to The Wichita Eagle. “I heard my son scream, I got up and then I heard a shot,” Lisa Finch said in the interview with reporters. “The police said, ‘Come out with your hands up,’” she added. “[The officer] took me, my roommate and my granddaughter, who witnessed the shooting and had to step over her dying uncle’s body.”
Lisa Finch told reporters that she and her family were handcuffed, taken outside and placed into separate police cruisers. They were then transported downtown and interviewed by Wichita police officers. “We want Andy’s side of the story to be told,” his mother said. Wichita police investigate a call of a possible hostage situation near the corner of McCormick and Seneca in Wichita, Ks Thursday night 12/28. A man was fatally shot by a police officer in what is believed to be a gaming prank called ‘swatting.’ (Fer (The Associated Press) Gamer Plays ‘Swatting’ Prank on Teen After Losing Video Captures Colorado Cops Swarming in ‘Swatting’ Prank Call of Duty Player Becomes Victim of Swatting Prank Livingston, the deputy police chief, said investigators believe the prank call was a case of “swatting,” in which a 911 caller intends to deceive law enforcement about an alleged serious emergency.
According to The Associated Press, the FBI has estimated that roughly 400 cases of swatting occur nationwide every year “Last evening’s officer-involved shooting is a tragic and senseless act,” Livingston said at the press conference Friday. “The irresponsible actions of a prankster put people and lives at risk. The incident is a nightmare for everyone involved including the family and our police department.” The officer who fired the shot has been placed on administrative leave, which Livingston said is standard protocol.
Livingston did not name that officer but said he’s a 7-year veteran of the department. “Due to the actions of a prankster we have an innocent victim,” Livingston said. “If the false police call had not been made, we would not have been there. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family as well as with the officer.” In addition to the 911 call audio, police also released seven seconds of grainy footage from a body-camera worn by an officer standing next to the officer who fired the shot.
Somehow no one ever learns from these. React in haste and repent in leisure – but let no one ever say that our SWAT team was at fault!
A single phone call to the residence of the “incident” might have kept them all alive! What, we can’t call the site of an “incident” lest we alert the perp that we are coming? Don’t you think the “perp” rather EXPECTS the police to visit if a real hostage situation occurs?
What if there is no “perp”?
What if there’s only an innocent man?
If they know who made that call it’s time for a MURDER trial, first degree, don’t you think?
I’d sit on the jury!
And what happens if the police call and are convinced ‘all is well’ and don’t respond? I have heard people having a domestic dispute make just such claims that they have settled the argument and there is no longer a need for the police to respond to an earlier 911 call because the person who made the call has been beaten senseless.
In fact, there was a ‘Homicide for The Holidays’ episode where a woman , as she and her family were being murdered, called 911. Police responded to the property but finding the driveway gate to the home locked left . The woman’s daughter, husband and two children arrived afterwards and were subsequently murdered by the killers still holed up in the house!
On my way to work a few weeks ago, I drove by a multi-million $$ cluster of homes. One of them had about 6 cop cars outside of the gate waiting to respond to a call from the home I assume. I just laughed thinking about how I thought the rich box themselves in in a way that help, when needed, is hampered.
They looked like a bunch of keystone cops.
You misunderstand reality.
Everything is the fault of either the police or the Jews.
Everyone else is an innocent victim.
That’s just the way it is.
pranksters direct unaccountable deadly weapon at innocents-
counting on PD being PD, and doing what PD does.
wrol.
What the hell ever happened to the standard of ‘no weapon’ means you can not shoot someone? When is this going to end? If a regular citizen shoots a person without a weapon, they go to jail unless they are literally in danger of being killed. Don’t these dumbasses realize they are engendering the hatred of the law abiding populace.
When some low IQ Cop says put your hands up, put’em up and keep’em up; if he says put’em down, you better say “May I”. In this case, I bet there were several tactical flashlights on the poor SOB & he was lit up so a half blind man could see his hands clearly.
1) the “prankster” needs to pay with his life for this. He caused a death in the commision of a crime, which makes him guilty of murder.,
2) I believe only one shot was fired. If so, I think the gun went off by accident. Cops do not fire single shots at perps reaching for weapons, they fire a hail of bullets. When did you ever hear of a single shot being fired, except for that woman killed in Milwaukee? Cops cannot hit shit. The cop will get off using the “He went for a weapon” excuse, but not for shooting the guy accidentally, which would at least cost him his job.
Felony murder, statutes vary by jurisdiction as to the specifics of what constitutes it.
considering the fact that he’s already served time for doing this,would 20-life be appropriate?
No. The reason this shit happens is because there’s no deterrent in place to make anyone think twice. Death by either hanging or firing squad. Let perpetrator choose.
He must have been a white guy, as this did not make national nor main stream media news…….
Fry the fucker.
“prankster” needs to pay with his life for this. He caused a death in the commision of a crime, which makes him guilty of murder.” Exactly
And the cop.
Legal standards vary, but generally speaking, anonymous tips/tipsters must have some degree of corroboration and/or verifiable credibility before police can legitimately act on them… except when it comes to 911 calls… in which case pretty much anything goes.
The guy probably called from a cell; I believe they can determine where the call came from and if it was not the house in question then it is ‘swatting’.
Regardless, it is shoot first if someone flinches.
This BS didn’t happen years ago.
You can save your excuses about he put his hands down etc., yada, yada, yada.
Cops used to be human.
Now they are CopFucks.
There is caller I.D., which every police department has, and they can trace cell phone location. Just curious why that wasn’t done.
Caller ID is easily spoofed. That’s how the “prank” works. You make it look like the call came from the house. They also sometime go through a TTY for deaf people and that service passes the call a long to 911.
Caller ID can easily be spoofed, and virtually every gamer would know how to do this along with all those solicitation phony numbers you get from solicitors spoofing local area codes to get your answer thinking it is someone you know.
Maybe all caller ID numbers should be required to be real numbers, but that would still leave using international connections available to do the spoofing since it couldn’t be enforced there anymore than the no call lists can be.
Cops are out of control. They should get no special legal protection. The cop murdered an innocent man. What if it was the wrong address. What if the victim had some medical problem like some neurological condition etc. The cops are holding the guns and are responsible regardless of potential mitigating circumstances. They are to serve and protect not shoot and ask questions later.
But the gamer that made the swatting call initiated the entire event, the cop only got caught up in it after the fact.
And?
The police are not your friend anymore , they have become nothing but collection agents with guns for the state . Far to many cannot be trusted for any to deserve the benefit of the doubt . Remember police are allegedly trained armed professionals not a bunch of rowdy assholes with guns and badges
The prankster didn’t kill the man – police did. Police who’re hopped up on military-grade weapons and tactical infantry training, police who are no longers officers of the peace but enforcers.
Charge the fucking cops, they’re the killers.
By the same reasoning the police didn’t kill the man, the gun did.
Using the police as a weapon to kill is no different than using a gun as a weapon to kill.
It’s a fucking outrage. That cop was behind cover and had no real fear of being shot. He assassinated the poor bastard. And now he gets “administrative paid leave” until he’s set free by the state. Another “hero” state sponsored murderer.
How is the Officer Mohammed Noor in Miniapolis working out?
All I had to do is read the title. Author has no idea what a hero is. Hint, there’s damn few of them.
I assumed my use of the word Heroes would be rightly seen as sarcastic since all the long term readers here know me.
I will not make that mistake again.
Predictable but sad. Remember when robocop was fiction?
Remember when “terrorism” was a joke in America?
Remember when it was viewed as something that only affected far-away weak-kneed nations?
I was going to post a pretty nasty comment about this but its New Years Eve and there’s so much bad out there I just can’t.
Happy New Year’s Eve!
I wonder how much snow Admin got in Wildwood and if he was able to make to his local pub there this weekend?
Manslaughter or homicide. Only one shot was fired because no one but that one idiot saw any reason to fire. We get these swatting calls all the time and they all describe just two or three scenarios. We try to call the caller back but it always fails to go through (probably because they spoofed the call). So we go in prepared just in case this one turns out to be real, but we’re expecting it to be a dangerous prank. We knock on the door, calmly explain why we’re there without unholstering pistols, and we don’t shoot the first person to answer the door! Sometimes I think these horrible incidents happen because officers work in low crime jurisdictions where they almost never get 911 assignments involving guns and ultra-violent crimes in progress, 94% of which turn out to be fake or completely over by the time we arrive. Other times I think poor front line supervision on the street must be the problem, like that travesty in Mesa, AZ. Hopefully a successful prosecution will result from this one and it will serve as a deterrent to other idiots and hotheads. Not holding my breath.
At some time grand juries need to be informed that laws are to cover reality, not the fiction going on inside an incompetent officer’s head. It doesn’t matter what the officer was thinking, he was thinking wrong and should be held accountable for it. The officer’s job is community safety, not officer safety. If these chickenshit are too cowardly to do their jobs, they are in the wrong job. Murder is murder, no matter who does it.
Such a sad tale. I was visited by two deputy sheriffs last night. A youngish clean cut male and a female I would hit on in a bar. Someone had called in a report of a suspicious vehicle in my driveway. Someone who merely drove by reported my brother in law backing his panel truck into my densely wooded driveway. He has a plant/landscaping business. He stays locally with his mother while he is not in New Orleans. He is staying with my son’s family next door to my apartment, while his sister (my ex) is home visiting her mother for the holidays. He knows not to be around his sister as conflict is inevitable and a call to the police is likely to be repeated when she is around.
The polite deputies were checking out the report of possible suspicious activity. There is little crime in my neighborhood. When my teen age son rolled his pick up on the local golf driving range and then hid the damaged truck deep in the woods – and reported it stolen – the cops said there had never been a car theft in our little bedroom suburban community. The detective eventually smoked out the fabrication from my delinquent spawn. Last night he cops did not even comment on the fact that my nephew’s license plate had expired last month. I imagine they liked the Combat Infantry Badge license plate on my son’s truck that was parked next to the van. I knew my son’s stolen story was bogus. And I agreed with the detective’s bull shit detector. The gum shoe did hold an immense attitude about spoiled rich kids who escape consequences. And he questioned my ability to raise my son. And did a total cop fuk with his report. He told me the damage to the driving range was about $100. I belonged to the private country club that owned the driving range. Another resentful minion who was the manager at the failing golf club failed to drop the charge against my son for damaging a bit of turf grass. When the detective wrote up the report in cursive penmanship he used the dollar sign $ and used two vertical lines through the S. But the second vertical line was not through the S, it was to the right of the S. Hence it looked like $ llOO.OO – which makes it a felony. The golf club manager was fired two weeks later when he got into a fist fight with someone who found fault with his demeanors. The cop fuk remains on my shit list. My son got what he deserved, a lesson on telling lies that he values today. And he had his adjudication withheld by an understanding judge.
I cannot say all my interactions with authorities have always been so pleasant and appropriate as last night.
A large van backing up at night to a house could be construed as criminal activity. I received them warmly and thanked them for investigating. I fully support neighborhood watch and police cooperation.
Wip called these SWAT officers “our heros” –in reality they are ZEROS.
In the real world, there is very little need for these militarized goons we keep on hand.
SWAT thugs are now being used as first responders to situations where there is no need for their mindless over-bearing tactics. They are being used to serve warrants, being used to respond to domestic situations and so forth… and nearly every time deployed there is no prior investigation (on their or anyone’s part) as to the reality of the location they are storming.
This is not the first time an innocent person has been killed by these thugs suddenly showing up in using the cover of darkness–many times (and especially in these SWATing calls) at the wrong location or to a prank call.
These thugs need to be reigned in (by strict laws) and their use and their tactics strictly limited to situations where extreme violence has been confirmed (visually… IE: the North Hollywood shootout and so forth) before they are unleashed.
They should not be allowed to operate merely from a phone call into 911 by some civilian claiming violence or mayhem–SWAT should only be called in, from the scene of a violent situation by uniformed officers who can access the situation and only when they are over their heads and need SWAT’s specialized training.
What you have now are uniformed, militarized goons who possess complete immunity from their actions–roaming the streets with zero accountability, always with the political and legal cover from their employing organizations, their police unions and especially from ass-wipe conservatives who like their brand of thuggery.
SWAT teams should not be used in the middle of the night to serve drug warrants–especially to the wrong residence as seen in the senseless murder of an Phoenix man a few years ago who responded to a middle of the night time no knock SWAT raid upon his front door with his own firearm (thinking his home was being violated–and he was correct) only to be murdered by SWAT officers.
Reign in SWAT teams now with strict federal laws limiting their use and especially their tactics.
I assumed my use of the word Heroes would be rightly seen as sarcastic since all the long term readers here know me.
I will not make that mistake again.