Man Behind Fatal "Swatting" Makes Plea For 20 Years in Prison

In December 2017, online gamer Tyler Barris make a hoax or "swatting" phone call that resulted in a man being shot and killed. On February 25, his attorney made a plea offer in court asking that he get a twenty year prison sentence.

The incident happened on December 28, 2017 when Barris argued with another gamer over a $1.50 wager over a "Call of Duty" game. He made a call from his Los Angeles California home at the police department of what he thought was his rival's address at Wichita Kansas, saying he had shot his father and kidnapped the rest of the family, and had poured gasoline around the house. Police responded by sending officers to the address, which was a house owned by Andrew Thomas Finch. Police shot Finch at his front door when his hand moved to his waist, and the unarmed man was killed. Finch was 28, and survived by three children. The man's family has stated he wasn't a game player.

Barris, whose Twitter address at the time was "@SWAuTistic," initially boasted about the event, "That kids house that I swatted is on the news." But hearing someone was dead as a result, his response was to insist he was blameless, "I DIDNT GET ANYONE KILLED BECAUSE I DIDNT DISCHARGE A WEAPON AND BEING A SWAT MEMBER ISNT MY PROFESSION." He changed his Twitter address, but other gamers had taken pictures and shared it. The call and tweets were soon traced to him, and he was soon arrested by local police.

Given a total of 51 Federal charges, some related to other fake phone calls and threats, Barris pled guilty to all of them as part of a plea agreement in return for the shortest time in prison, which is 20 to 25 years. Two other gamers, Casey Viner of North College Hill Ohio and Shane Gaskill of Wichita Kansas (the city the crime took place), have also been charged in the case. They have pled not guilty and are scheduled to go to trial on March 15.

Barris' defense attorney claimed in court that his client's actions were a product of the gaming community's culture, and that being known as a swatter there "became an intoxicant" to him as he spent most of his time indoors playing computer games. His only family has been his grandmother, and has never held a job. "With no guidance, no structure, school, or employment," his defense attorney argued, video games, "became his salve to social acceptance in a virtual world." The defense attorney claimed Barris was genuinely remorseful for what happened. Barris has also written a letter to the Finch family, saying that he thinks every day about the incident and begged for forgiveness.

In April 2018, a glitch at a jail Internet kiosk set up for the purpose of allowing limited functions such as ordering items from the prison commissary allowed Barris temporary access to the Internet, which he used to access his Twitter, posting messages such as "All right, now who was talking s**t? Your *ss is about to get swatted" and "Y'all should see how much swag I got in here."

Tyler still faces separate state charges, including involuntary manslaughter.

Sources:  CTV News, ArsTechnica

Bixyl Shuftan

Online "Swatting" Prank Leads to Death

by Bixyl Shuftan

It's fair to say most online gamers have heard of "Swatting." For those who haven't, this is when someone calls a police department and makes a phony claim of a serious crime, such as a hostage situation, at someone else's address. While hoax calls to the cops are nothing new, they've become more of a concern in recent years with angry video and computer gamers tracing down the address of a rival and calling the police to claim the person is either about to seriously harm someone or already has, with the intention of terrifying their target and possibly getting them arrested.

Not only is this a waste of taxpayer dollars and the policemen's time, and possibly diverting them from any real crimes at the moment, but there's the potential of the police shooting someone. And on Thursday December 28, it happened. Police in Wichita Kansas responded to a caller claiming he was holding people hostage at an address, and ended up shooting and killing a man whom had been doing nothing wrong.

As it turned out, the man wasn't even involved in the dispute that led to the crime. What had happened was two "Call of Duty" game players ended up arguing over a wager of just $1.50, and one whose Twitter handle happened to be "@SWAuTistic" made a call at the 911 center in the town of what he thought was his rival's address. But he had been given the wrong one. The caller claimed to have shot his father and holding the rest of the family hostage, and had poured gasoline around the house. The address police were given was that of Andrew Thomas Finch. Police shot Finch at his front door when his hand moved to his waist, and the unarmed man was killed. Finch was 28, and is survived by three children. The man's family has stated he wasn't a game player.

As news of the shooting spread, "@SWAuTistic" changed his Twitter address. But other gamers took pictures of and shared a tweet of his insisting he was blameless for what happened, "I DIDNT GET ANYONE KILLED BECAUSE I DIDNT DISCHARGE A WEAPON AND BEING A SWAT MEMBER ISNT MY PROFESSION". The call and tweets were traced to Tyler Barris, 25, of Los Angeles, whom was arrested. Barris has been in trouble before, charged and convited of making bomb threats to a TV station.

While there are no Federal laws about swatting, Barris faces a number of charges. On state level, he could be charged with reckless homicide, plus California has a law against swatting punishable by a year in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Sources: Wichita Eagle, Los Angeles Times, Click On Detroit,  PC Magazine, CNN,

Bixyl Shuftan