DISGUSTING: Innocent Man Dies Because Of Gamer’s “Swatting” Hoax

A 25-year-old California man was arrested in connection to an online quarrel between two online streaming video gamers who play “Call of Duty,” that has lead to one of the gamers being killed in a hoax involving police.

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 apparently gave officers what he believed to be the address of the other gamer.

In the audio of the 911 call you hear the caller say that he shot his father in the head and he is holding his mother and brother hostage in the closet with a gun and he is definitely not going to stop unless they send somebody. He also said he pour gasoline all over the house and might set it on fire.

Here is the 911 call that lead to the deadly swatting in Kansas. https://t.co/nXG1WUKKsa

— Candi Bolden (@CandiBolds) December 30, 2017

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, spoke to the media and said the hoax was a trend called “swatting” in which a person makes a fake 911 call to get swat teams to arrest innocent people. This is often done to video game streamers who play games on camera in their homes.

“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 to see why there was so much police activity outside the house, and police open fire on him, killing him.

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.”

Finch, described by his mother as a “very kind and caring” man who would “do anything for his family,” leaves behind two children, ages 2 and 7.

This is a tragic mistake and police need to find a way to deal with these “swatting” pranks, this is not the first one, just the first one to be fatal, it will happen again if swatting continues.