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‘Swatting’ incident ends in death of innocent father-of-two

Swatting isn’t a new process in the streaming world. In fact, it’s been a punishable offense for quite some time, not just by Twitch, but by law as a waste of police time. Unfortunately, this holiday season hasn’t been kind to one family, who have tragically lost 28-year-old, father-of-two Andrew Finch, who was shot dead at his front door.

The process of swatting involves a hoax emergency call directed to a targeted address, prompting armed forces to arrive on site in a very alert state. Often this results in minor property damage upon entry, mixed with disgruntled police and a shocked family on the receiving end.

Perpetrator, Tyler Barriss’ call was made public following the incident, in which the man can be heard claiming that he has shot his father dead and taken his remaining family hostage. Alongside the supposed handgun used to facilitate the claimed murder, Barriss continued to threaten to burn the house down with gasoline he had apparently poured over the house prior to the call.

Officer Involved shooting

The following is a the 911 audio and video of the officer involved shooting we release today during our press conference, please be advised the following video contains graphic content, viewer discretion is advised.

Posted by Wichita Police Department on Friday, 29 December 2017

The call made to the Witchita Police Department. Some might find the above audio distressing.

Arriving at the scene, the swat team was prepared for the worst of hostage situations, and responded in the according manner, releasing just one round after victim Finch reportedly failed to comply with verbal orders to keep his hands above his head. Police found that Finch was unarmed, and inside were four family members, healthy and not at all in harm’s way as suggested.

The hoax apparently arose over a dispute between three gamers playing Call of Duty online who were reportedly gambling as little as $1.50/£1.10 on a match. One player involved in the argument, “Miruhcle,” passed Finch’s address off as his own, antagonising the second and third player, “Baperizer” and “Swautistic,” into doing something. The latter then used this address with a third party swatting facility.

Barriss has a history with crime, local reports say, once being charged for threatening a local television station with a bomb back in 2015. It is currently unconfirmed as to which of the latter two handles belongs to Barriss, however shortly before his arrest, Swautistic posted up a tweet denying any responsibility for the actions taken by the swat team. While all Twitter accounts involved have been suspended, this screenshot by Mattcarries is still circulating.

KitGuru Says: This isn’t the first fatal incident of a swatting and, unfortunately, it likely isn’t going to be the last. It’s atrocious that someone could be so thoughtless, and claim deniability to what is quite obviously manslaughter at the very least. Personally, I think the person who gave the false address is also responsible and should receive punishment for provoking the situation. What do you think about swatting and this incident that took place late 2017?

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6 comments

  1. The police are damned no matter what, as they have to respond to a very serious call and claims, so they shoot or they don’t and someone else dies. The perpetrator of the call, and the others involved should be punished to the maximum possible. There will always be stupid people doing this, but any heavy deterrent may reduce the numbers doing so.

  2. I would like to hear more information about what happened between these two before the shooting. However, the decision to pull the trigger was the SWAT officers choice. The reasons for the officer being there are secondary to the discharge of a weapon on an unarmed individual. In the Army bad intelligence would not wash as an excuse for a twitchy trigger finger.

  3. Nikolas Karampelas

    So in the US you open your door and you get shoot… Isn’t the work of the police to identify the threat first?

  4. i never understood how a call that often clearly comes from somewhere completely else and the fact that swatting is a well know prank call, somehow always leads to the most drastic measure possible by the police.

    this case: he stands in the door way, but doesn’t comply fast enough, but no hostages in sight, so no direct thread to them, the swat member has body armor+ a load gun aimed, so as long as the hands not clearly pick something up he is harmless and who would assume after that call that he would open the door? why not look inside and nobody notice the lack of gasoline smell?

    the problem lies more in how the police seems to solve all problems with a shot first tactic, rather than to take rational response, do a background check, get the source of the call, try looking through windows and for what reason did we invent stun guns and tear gas?

  5. Regardless the person that set the swat in motion and the person that facilitated the swat are the people most responsible for this death and knew it’s always a potential risk when they set this in motion and should live out the rest of their lives knowing they killed someone and left kids without a father over a $1.50 bet.

  6. That is a different world. If they had a bet for 1 cent that has no effect on the person that decides to pull the trigger. You are in a position of trust and you make the decision based on all those things. You cant say I didn’t think straight or I have a slight bent to make the world right. The rules are in the Magna Carta the only rule I recognize. If you kill then you have to answer for it. Right or wrong!