2017 Wichita swatting

The 2017 Wichita swatting occurred on December 28, 2017 in Wichita, Kansas. Casey Viner and Tyler Barriss were responsible for placing the fraudulent call, and their intended target was Shane Gaskill. The three were connected through the video game Call of Duty: WWII. Gaskill intentionally provided the wrong address, one that was occupied by an uninvolved person, Andrew Finch. Wichita Police responded to the address, and as Finch was exiting the house, police officer Justin Rapp fatally shot him.

"Barriss" redirects here. For the Star Wars character, see Barriss Offee.

2017 Wichita swatting
DateDecember 28, 2017 (2017-12-28)
LocationWichita, Kansas, United States
MotiveRevenge swatting due to disagreement in video game Call of Duty: WWII
Participants
  • Tyler Barriss (911 caller)
  • Casey Viner (contacted Barriss)
  • Shane Gaskill (gave the address to Barris)
  • Justin Rapp (shooter)
DeathsAndrew Thomas Finch
Arrests3
Convicted
  • Tyler Barriss
  • Casey Viner

Barriss pled guilty to federal charges of false information and hoaxes, cyberstalking, threatening to kill another or damage property by fire, interstate threats, conspiracy, and several counts of wire fraud.[1] He also faces charges of involuntary manslaughter in Kansas and of false alarm in his home state of California. On March 29, 2019, Barriss was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison as a result of the swatting incident.[2] Rapp was not charged for Finch's death.

Background

Tyler Barriss

At the time of the incident, Tyler Raj Barriss was a 25-year-old homeless man living in Los Angeles, California. Known online as "SWAuTistic", he had a criminal record including domestic violence,[3] and had served 16 months in Los Angeles County Jail for making false bomb threats against KABC-TV, an elementary school in Los Angeles, and a middle school in Granada Hills. He was wanted by police in Panama City, Florida for calling approximately 30 other bomb threats including one to a high school,[4] and on fraud and mischief charges in Canada for harassing a woman in Calgary.[5]

Events of December 28

Reports surfaced that the deadly series of events reportedly began with an online argument over a $1.50 wager in an online match of Call of Duty: WWII on UMG Gaming, which operates online tournaments, including one involving said game. Two men, Casey Viner[6] (known by pseudonym Baperizer) and Shane Gaskill[6] (known by pseudonym Miruhcle), fought over friendly fire in the Call of Duty: WWII match, causing them to lose both the match and $1.50 in wagers. The two gamers took to Twitter in an argument about the loss.

Viner threatened to swat Gaskill over the loss. Gaskill intentionally gave Viner the wrong address: a place in Wichita where he previously resided with his family, and where he said he would "be waiting". Gaskill's family had been evicted in 2016.[7] Viner then contacted Barriss and provided him with the address given to swat Gaskill. Finch was not a known gamer and had nothing to do with the Call of Duty match.[8]

Using voice over IP through the free Wi-Fi provided by a South Los Angeles library, Barriss called the Wichita police department. Because the call was transferred from Wichita City Hall to 911, the dispatcher believed the call was coming from the Wichita area. Barriss, identifying himself as "Brian", claimed that he was at the residence at 1033 West McCormick Street, had fatally shot his father, and was holding family members at gunpoint. He asked if police were coming to the house, saying he had already poured gasoline all over the house and was threatening to set it on fire.

Shooting

Wichita Police Department officers, who were not SWAT team members, untrained for tactical situations or hostage rescues,[9] responded to Barriss's call and surrounded Finch's residence. Before the police presence was announced, Andrew Finch is reported by his mother Lisa Finch, who was at the scene, to have opened the front door "because he heard something." Mrs. Finch reports that her 28-year-old son "screamed and then they shot him". Moments after Finch stepped onto his front porch, police ordered him to put his hands up. According to officer testimony, he began to do so and then stopped. A Wichita police officer standing on the other side of the street fired a single round[10] from a Colt AR-15, striking Finch and piercing his heart and right lung.[11] Finch was transported to St. Francis Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Finch's mother reports the police then ordered her and other family members to exit the residence. The family was handcuffed and taken to the police station for questioning. Initial reports from Deputy Wichita Police Chief Troy Livingston stated that "A male came to the front door. As he came to the front door, one of our officers discharged his weapon." Livingston did not initially state if Finch was armed, or what caused the officer to fire his weapon. In a later statement on December 30, the Wichita Police Department stated the shooting was caused by Finch "reaching into his waistband".[12] The officer involved was eventually identified as Justin Rapp, a seven-year veteran of the force.[13]

In court, Rapp testified in May 2018 that he was given no information when he arrived at the scene, including when Finch was given his first verbal command, when the 911 call ended, or whether officers at the scene were aware the caller was still on the phone with 911.[14] Sedgwick County Department of Emergency Communications has also denied an open records request pertaining to the 911 call, stating the police department had asked that no more records be released.[15]

Aftermath

Many Wichita residents and other US-based commentators have expressed concern over the death of Finch.[16] Wichita residents used the opportunity of a city council meeting on January 9 to voice concerns on the subject, including questioning the release of only seven seconds of the police body cam footage, and arguing the city should assume full responsibility to avoid a lengthy struggle by the Finch family for justice. The council did not comment directly, but indicated a willingness to consider training procedures at a later time.[17]

Nearly a week after the shooting, Andrew Finch's mother Lisa Finch wrote to the Wichita mayor and police chief stating that she did not know where her son's body was being kept and that she wanted to give him a "proper funeral service and burial." "Please let me see my son's lifeless body," she wrote in a letter dated January 3. In the same letter, Mrs. Finch asked why the police officer who killed her son had not, at that time, been identified, why the family was handcuffed, and when police will return their belongings, including two cell phones and a computer, seized from the house. The family attorney, Andrew M. Stroth, has also called for the city, police department, and officer involved in the shooting to be held liable "for the unjustified shooting of Andrew Finch."[18]

Finch's 18-year-old niece Adelina, who had lived with Finch since 2002 and witnessed his death, committed suicide in 2019. Lisa Finch blames Adelina's death on the events of December 28.[19]

Parties involved

Shooting victim
  • Andrew Thomas Finch, aged 28; father of two, who had no affiliation with either the three men or the Call of Duty game.

Call of Duty: WWII players
  • Casey "Baperizer" Viner,[6] 18; of North College Hill, Ohio[7] (Sentenced to 2 years community service, and 1 year and 3 months jailtime.)
  • Shane "Miruhcle" Gaskill,[6] 19; of Wichita, Kansas[7] (Sentenced to 2 years probation.)

911 hoax caller
  • Tyler Raj "SWAuTistic" Barriss, 25; of Los Angeles, California[20] (Sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.)

Involved officer
  • Justin Rapp, Officer, Wichita Police Department; originally stated he believed Finch had a gun, but testified in May 2018 that he merely saw Finch make a motion with his hand[14] (Not charged with any crime.)

Barriss was arrested on December 29, 2017 in Los Angeles on a fugitive warrant stemming from a 2015 charge of making false bomb threats to KABC-TV, and was charged with false alarm, a felony. On January 12, 2018, Barriss was extradited to Kansas where he was charged with involuntary manslaughter and held in Sedgwick County Jail.[2]

On May 23, 2018, Barriss, Viner and Gaskill were indicted in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas on charges related to the swatting. Barriss was charged with false information and hoaxes, cyberstalking resulting in death, making threats of death or damage to property by fire, interstate threats, conspiracy to make false reports, and wire fraud. Viner was charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to make false/hoax reports, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Gaskill was charged with obstruction of justice, wire fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice. In July 2018, Gaskill was re-indicted on additional charges after it was discovered that he goaded Barriss to "try again" after the fatal shooting.[1][21]

On October 26, 2018, forty-six additional charges against Barriss were added, which included financial fraud, and fake threats of bombs and shootings made to police and schools; some of these charges involved unindicted co-conspirators residing in Des Plaines, Illinois; Gulf Breeze, Florida; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Greenwood, Missouri. On November 13 he pleaded guilty to 51 federal charges, for which U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister recommended a sentence of 20 years' incarceration. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Barriss has also been required to formally apologize to Finch's family and pay $10,100 in fines and restitution, and has agreed to five years of supervised release.[22]

On March 29, 2019, Barriss was sentenced to 20 years in prison.[23]

In April 2019, Viner pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of justice. In September 2019, he received a 15-month prison sentence in addition to two years' probation, during which time he would be banned from playing video games.[24][25] Gaskill's case was originally scheduled to go to trial April 23, 2019; if convicted on all charges, he was facing over 60 years in prison.[26] In September 2019, it was reported that Gaskill struck a deal for deferred prosecution that could allow the charges against him to be dropped.[27]

Viner was assigned BOP #29251-031 and housed at USP Big Sandy and released on November 14 2020. Barriss is assigned BOP #29381-031 and is scheduled to be released from FCI Phoenix on January 14, 2035.

Legislative response

In response to Finch's slaying, the Kansas state legislature approved a bill in March 2018 to establish creating a false alarm resulting in injury or death as a class one felony, carrying a prison sentence between 10 and 41 years. The bill was signed into law by Governor Jeff Colyer on April 12.[28]

The Andrew T. Finch Memorial Act of 2018 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Ron Estes in March 2018. The bill, also known as the Preventing Swatting and Protecting Our Communities Act of 2018, would make providing false information with the intent to cause an emergency response punishable by up to five years' imprisonment, up to 20 years' imprisonment if serious injury results, and up to life imprisonment if the act results in death. The bill was referred to the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations,[29] but was never taken up for a vote and died in committee.

Rep. Eliot Engel introduced a bill in January 2019 to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for enhanced penalties for the transmission of misleading or inaccurate caller identification information with the intent to trigger an emergency response. As of March 2019 it has been referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.[30]

References
  1. Leiker, Amy Renee (May 28, 2018). "Tyler Barriss, gamers involved in fatal Wichita 'swatting' indicted on federal charges". The Wichita Eagle.
  2. "Suspect in fatal "SWATting" call faces charge of making false alarm". CBS News. January 3, 2018.
  3. Manna, Nichole (January 4, 2018). "Swatting suspect said he'd kill his grandmother if she talked, court filing says". The Wichita Eagle.
  4. McDonald, Zack. "PCBPD closed in on swatter before fatal shooting". Panama City News Herald.
  5. "Los Angeles man charged with Calgary swatting incident". The City of Calgary. January 9, 2018.
  6. Queally, James (January 26, 2018). "Fictitious shooting in video game sparked real-life shooting in Kansas swatting case, records show". The Los Angeles Times.
  7. Manna, Nichole (January 30, 2018). "Family of gamer who allegedly gave address to swatter used to live at 1033 W. McCormick". The Wichita Eagle.
  9. "Wichita Police Department has no policy, specific training on 'swatting,' chief says". kansas. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
  10. "City Council Meeting, May 1 2018". Granicus - City of Wichita, KS. May 1, 2018.
  11. "Autopsy Report: Andrew Finch" (PDF). December 29, 2017.
  12. Manna, Nichole (January 9, 2018). "Police release 'swatting' call, video of man being shot to death as a result of hoax". The Wichita Eagle.
  13. Manna, Nichole (January 9, 2018). "Family says son killed by police in 'swatting' was unarmed, didn't play video games". The Wichita Eagle.
  14. "Wichita Police Officer who fired deadly shot in 'swatting' call testifies in court". KWCH-12. May 22, 2018.
  15. Burgess, Katherine (January 9, 2018). "Swatter was still talking to 911 at least 16 minutes after Wichita man was shot". The Wichita Eagle.
  17. "Wichita City Council hears concerns about deadly officer-involved shooting on 'swatting' call". KWCH-12. January 10, 2018.
  18. "Swatting victim's mother to police: Please let me see my son". CNN. January 10, 2018.
  19. "Swatting victim's family blames two suicides on deadly hoax as Barriss gets 20 years". kansas. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
  20. "Suspect in deadly 'swatting' call in Kansas held without bail in Los Angeles". The Los Angeles Times. January 2, 2018.
  21. "Indictment: Man Behind Cyberattacks Was Working for Wichita Lawyer". www.justice.gov. July 17, 2018.
  22. "Man who made fatal swatting call in Wichita is guilty of 51 federal charges". The Manhattan (KS) Mercury. November 13, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  23. "Serial 'swatter' sentenced to 20 years for death of Kansas man shot by police". NBC News. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  24. "Local gamer pleads guilty in fatal 'swatting' case". Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  25. "Ohio gamer sentenced to 15 months prison for fatal 'swatting' case". NBC News. September 13, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  26. Press release announcing federal charges from U. S. Attorney for the District of Kansas
  27. "Ohio gamer sentenced to 15 months prison for fatal 'swatting' case". Associated Press. September 13, 2019. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  28. "Gov. Colyer signs Andrew Finch Act into law". KSN. April 12, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
  29. H.R.5204 - Andrew T. Finch Memorial Act of 2018
  30. H.R.156 - To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for enhanced penalties for the transmission of misleading or inaccurate caller identification information with the intent to trigger an emergency response
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