THIS IS SO TRAGIC!! There is no remorse by the gamer who is doing this!
Alleged swatting hoax ends in the death of a father of two (updated)
Mallory Locklear,Engadget
Read full article here. https://www.yahoo.com/news/alleged-swatting-hoax-ends-death-223700818.html
Yesterday evening, a 28-year-old Kansas man was shot by police after the station received a call about a hostage situation taking place at the man's residence. "It was a shooting call involving hostages," Deputy Police Chief Troy Livingston said during a press conference last night. "The original call, we were told that someone had an argument with their mother and dad was accidentally shot. And that now that person was holding mother, brother and sister hostage. We learned through that call that a father was deceased, and had been shot in the head. That was the information we were working off of." But that information turned out to be wrong and shortly after the incident, reports began to surface online that the call was part of a "swatting" stunt -- a hoax wherein someone makes a false police report in order to fuel a large law enforcement response.
Here's what seems to have gone down. Two individuals were playing Call of Duty and got into an argument online over a game with a $1.50 wager. One of them, a person with the Twitter handle @SWauTistic, threatened to swat user @7aLeNT. The latter then provided an address that wasn't actually their own in response to the threat. Shortly thereafter, @SWauTistic allegedly called in the false report, which led to a police response at the provided address. Andrew Finch, who lived at the address, reportedly went to the front door in response to the commotion and was shot. "As he came to the front door, one of our officers discharged his weapon," said Livingston. The police haven't said whether Finch had a weapon at the time, but his family has said there were no guns in the house. The officer who fired the shot is a seven-year department veteran who will be put on paid administrative leave pending an investigation.
Once the story began attracting media coverage, @SWauTistic tweeted that the house he swatted was on the news, which was then followed by a tweet saying he didn't get anyone killed because he wasn't the person who shot Finch.
KrebsOnSecurity reports that the individual then changed his Twitter handle to @GoredTutor36, but not before KrebsOnSecurity got its hands on weeks' worth of the original account's tweets. The person behind the account has claimed credit for a number of swatting hoaxes and other threats including one that led to the evacuation of the Dallas Convention Center earlier this month, a bomb threat at a Florida high school in November and the threat that caused the FCC to pause its net neutrality vote a couple of weeks ago.
In direct message conversations with KrebsOnSecurity, the person running @GoredTutor36 said that they had remorse over Finch's death but that they would not be turning themselves in. "People will eventually (most likely those who know me) tell me to turn myself in or something. I can't do that; though I know its [sic] morally right. I'm too scared admittedly," they wrote. They also said, "Bomb threats are more fun and cooler than swats in my opinion and I should have just stuck to that. But I began making $ doing some swat requests." The person also noted that the thrill of such hoaxes "comes from having to hide from police via net connections."
Finch was a father of two children -- a two-year-old and a seven-year-old -- and his family said he didn't play video games.
Update: The Wichita Police department has confirmed this is an incident of SWATting, and released material including audio of the phone call that sent officers to Finch's door.
Liz Woolley
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/12/30/kansas-swatting-suspect-arrested-in-los-angeles.html
Man arrested in 'Call of Duty' 'swatting' hoax that led to fatal police shooting
By Benjamin Brown | Fox News
A 25-year-old California man was arrested in connection to an online quarrel between two “Call of Duty” gamers that prompted a hoax call and led to a man being killed by police in Kansas.
Los Angeles police on Friday arrested Tyler Barriss, who law enforcement claimed is the “prankster” who called 911 and made up a story about a kidnapping in Wichita, ABC 7 reported.
Barriss reportedly gave police the address he believed the other gamer lived.
In the audio of the 911 call, the caller claimed his father had been shot in the head and that he was holding his mother and a sibling at gunpoint. The caller added that he poured gasoline inside the home and "might just set it on fire."
The address was for the home of Andrew Finch, 28, whom police believed was not involved in any argument on “Call of Duty.”
Wichita Deputy Police Chief Troy Livingston, speaking at a news conference, said the hoax call was a case of "swatting," in which a person makes up a false report to get a SWAT team to descend on an address.
[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 someone making up a false report to get a SWAT team to descend upon a home in a prank common in the online gaming industry known as "swatting." (Bo Rader /The Wichita Eagle via AP)]
Lisa Finch, the victim's mother, told reporters her son was not a gamer. (AP)
"Due to the actions of a prankster we have an innocent victim," Livingston said. He said no one has been arrested in connection with the hoax.
When officers arrived at the scene, Finch opened the door for the officers. As police told him to put his hands up, Finch moved a hand toward the area of his waistband - a common place where guns are concealed. An officer, fearing the man was reaching for a gun, fired a single shot. Finch died a few minutes later at a hospital and was found to be unarmed, Livingston said.
The officer who fired the shot, a seven-year veteran of the department, is on paid leave pending the investigation.
Police did not disclose the name of the man shot Thursday evening but Lisa Finch, Andrew's mother, identified him. She told reporters Friday her son was not a gamer.
"What gives the cops the right to open fire?" she asked. "That cop murdered my son over a false report in the first place."
Livingston on Friday said investigators had made good progress tracking online leads.
Dexerto, an online news service focused on gaming, reported that the series of events began with an online argument over a $1 or $2 wager in a "Call of Duty" game on UMG Gaming, which operates online tournaments including one involving "Call of Duty."
"We woke this morning to horrible news about an innocent man losing his life," UMG spokeswoman Shannon Gerritzen said in an email to The Associated Press. "Our hearts go out to his loved ones. We are doing everything we can to assist the authorities in this matter." She declined to disclose other details.
In addition to the 911 call, police also released a brief video of body camera footage from another officer at the scene. It was difficult to see clearly what happened.
The FBI estimates that roughly 400 cases of swatting occur annually, with some using caller ID spoofing to disguise their number.
Liz Woolley
U.S.
LA man charged with involuntary manslaughter over 'CoD' swatting
Mallory Locklear,Engadget
The man who was arrested last month in conjunction with the Kansas swatting incident that resulted in a fatality has now been charged. Tyler Barriss was arraigned in a Kansas court today and hit with three charges -- giving a false alarm, interference with law enforcement and involuntary manslaughter -- the latter of which carries a maximum prison sentence of 36 months and a fine of up to $300,000.
The swatting hoax that Barriss was allegedly behind occurred last month and is believed to have been instigated by an argument over a Call of Duty game. One player, who is believed to have been Barriss, threatened to swat another. That person then provided an address that wasn't his own. Barriss has been accused of making a call to police saying that someone had been shot at that address and a hostage situation was ongoing. When police arrived, Andrew Finch, who was not involved with the Call of Duty game, was shot by an officer. Barriss was arrested a couple of days later in Los Angeles.
Barriss is being held on a $500,000 bond and is also facing charges in Canada over another, separate swatting incident.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/la-man-charged-involuntary-manslaughter-223900213.html
Liz Woolley