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posted by takyon on Saturday December 30 2017, @04:39AM   Printer-friendly
from the yellow-stripe-down-the-back-of-the-uniform dept.

From the NY Daily News (and covered almost everywhere):

A Kansas man shot to death by police earlier this week was the victim of a misdirected online prank known as "swatting," according to social media chatter.

The victim, identified as Andrew Finch, was gunned down on Thursday night after cops responded to his Wichita home amid a false report that he had shot his father to death and was holding his mother, brother and sister hostage.

A responding officer fatally shot Finch, 28, when he came to the front door, Wichita deputy police chief Troy Livingston said during a press conference. Livingston declined to comment on what triggered the officer to open fire and would not say whether Finch was armed.

Police briefing (10m8s). Body camera footage (53s).

I'm speechless.

takyon: The swatting was quickly linked to a dispute between two Call of Duty players:

On Twitter, more than a dozen people who identified themselves as being in the gaming community told The Eagle that a feud between two Call of Duty players sparked one to initiate a "swatting" call. After news began to spread about what happened Thursday night, the people in the gaming community, through Twitter posts, pointed at two gamers.

"I DIDNT GET ANYONE KILLED BECAUSE I DIDNT DISCHARGE A WEAPON AND BEING A SWAT MEMBER ISNT MY PROFESSION," said one gamer, who others said made the swatting call. His account was suspended overnight.

According to posts on Twitter, two gamers were arguing when one threatened to target the other with a swatting call. The person who was the target of the swatting gave the other gamer a false address, which sent police to a nearby home instead of his own, according to Twitter posts. The person who was to be the target of the swatting sent a Tweet saying, "Someone tried to swat me and got an innocent man killed." [...] Dexerto, a online news service focused on gaming and the Call of Duty game, reported the argument began over a $1 or $2 wager over the game.

Update: 911 Call from suspect (4m58s).

Brian Krebs conversed with the apparent suspect over Twitter.


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by cubancigar11 on Saturday December 30 2017, @08:52AM (15 children)

    by cubancigar11 (330) on Saturday December 30 2017, @08:52AM (#615798) Homepage Journal

    That's the mass hysteria against men that I was talking about, which apparently didn't enter the dense head of modders. There is implicit assumption that a story that a man is going to kill his family is very likely to be true. Wonder why?

    And the brazen attempt to be clear of the responsibility of that murder from the guy who orchestrated this thing. There was 0% probability of that guy going to get the bullet before call to swat team was made. That probability became non-0 the moment someone decided to call the swat team. They are trained to minimize that probability, but they are also trained to make sure it is non-0. Are we going to decide who is responsible for this tragedy but calculating whether swat team was within the margin of error or not? Margin of error shouldn't even be part of the question. The responsibility lies directly with the guy who called the swat team, and that "gamer" needs to be sent behind bars for conspiring to murder someone.

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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Saturday December 30 2017, @03:02PM (14 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday December 30 2017, @03:02PM (#615855) Journal

    There is implicit assumption that a story that a man is going to kill his family is very likely to be true.

    It does happen even if it isn't as common as the myth. Thus, you can't assume such a call is fake. That means it's up to the police officers responding to determine what actually happened. Here, I think they failed to do their job.

    • (Score: 4, Informative) by cubancigar11 on Saturday December 30 2017, @03:38PM (13 children)

      by cubancigar11 (330) on Saturday December 30 2017, @03:38PM (#615860) Homepage Journal

      True, but all crime can happen. Now unless we do an honest interrogation of the killer policeman, I won't be able to make a perfectly backed-up argument, but something tells if the story was that a woman killed her entire family there would be a psychologist in the place of crime instead of swat team.

      See, I am not making a sexist or anti-woman argument. I am saying there is implicit 'yeah I know assholes like him they don't deserve to live' thought instilled into the police and society in general, without any data to back it up, and that played a role in quickly using a deadly force instead of only when it was required.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday December 30 2017, @05:19PM (12 children)

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday December 30 2017, @05:19PM (#615890) Journal

        So why is that? Couldn't have anything to do with the relative proportion and severity of violence committed by men vis-a-vis that committed by women, hmmmm...?

        See, Kyuubey, this is why you Y-chromosome-havers need feminism: the "patriarchy" (and I really prefer "kyriarchy" here for the reason I'm about to explain) harms men. A lot. Who does the most violence against our boys and men? Other boys, and other men. I guarandamntee you no woman came up with the idea of circumcision, to use the example than so many meninists get their manties in a bunch over.

        Who tells boys not to ask for help, not to cry, not to show emotion? Mostly men, and women who've been brainwashed into that kind of thinking. Who tells men to gain power by subduing, dominating, and destroying other people and things? Again, mostly men. Who starts wars? Men. Who fights wars? Men. Who goes out to kill and die and suffer and bleed? Mostly men.

        No one hurts men like other men. And the kyriarchy is pitting men against women for the precise same reason as what motivated Johnson to say that well-known line about telling the worst white man he's better than the best black man to get him to open his wallet for you.

        Kyuubey, unless you are rich and powerful, *you have more in common with the most fringe woman than you with the elite men.* And I mean fringe, like "checks all the SJW boxes" fringe. Gay, black, Jewish, disabled, autistic, immigrant, whatever. Because from the PoV of the kyriarchy, if you ain't them, you're dirt. The sooner you understand this, the sooner you'll be able to get out of your own way.

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
        • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Arik on Saturday December 30 2017, @07:43PM (5 children)

          by Arik (4543) on Saturday December 30 2017, @07:43PM (#615936) Journal
          "So why is that? Couldn't have anything to do with the relative proportion and severity of violence committed by men vis-a-vis that committed by women, hmmmm...?"

          I doubt that very much. One reason I doubt that is that such facts are clearly irrelevant when they go the other way - and they *do* go the other way, several studies have clearly documented that women are more often the aggressors than men, looking at domestic violence specifically. Yet men are still presumed to be the aggressors in such incidents, by police, by shelter workers, etc. When a female seeks shelter from abuse, she'll find lots of resources - shelter, counseling, legal assistance. Male victims of domestic violence? They're referred to therapy that presumes they were the abuser.

          I wasn't able to easily find a good number for today, but there were 1500 battered women shelters in the US all the way back in 1990, there are certainly many more today.

          How many shelters are there for men in this country? As best I can determine, the total is 2, and the first one only opened 2 years ago.

          So no, facts don't seem to drive these policies, only to be used to support them, when they happen to work for that.

          "See, Kyuubey, this is why you Y-chromosome-havers need feminism: the "patriarchy" (and I really prefer "kyriarchy" here for the reason I'm about to explain) harms men. A lot."

          Yes it does, and that should be your first clue there is no 'patriarchy.' 'Kyriarchy' is a cool word but it still doesn't really exist. Western civilization generally and anglophone ones specifically are gynocentric societies. We're so gynocentric, that we can assert with a straight face that we live in a misogynistic patriarchy that oppresses women as a class even though women as a class are not just equal, but formally superior, to men in our legal system. We are so deeply, reflexively gynocentric that we can almost instantly depose extremely powerful men accused of abusing women, by sheer force of universal disapproval and disdain - then resume the talk about 'rape culture' with no sense of irony, or awareness.

          "Who does the most violence against our boys and men? Other boys, and other men. "

          Well there's your male gaze at work, seeing the part you want to see.

          Yes, men do violence as each other, in the process of competing with each other.

          And what are they competing for? The approval of the female.

          Is it only the man who is being violent when the woman conceives the violence, plans the violence, manipulates him to perform the violence, but it's his hands that do the work? Perhaps it's technically true but don't let that blind you to the actual power dynamic at work.

          "I guarandamntee you no woman came up with the idea of circumcision, to use the example than so many meninists get their manties in a bunch over."

          An interesting point to choose. I suspect you're right that it wasn't invented by a woman, but female preference plays a significant role in preserving it. But this isn't a thread about circumcision.

          "Kyuubey, unless you are rich and powerful, *you have more in common with the most fringe woman than you with the elite men.* And I mean fringe, like "checks all the SJW boxes" fringe. "

          Now that was just rude.
          --
          If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
          • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday December 30 2017, @07:56PM (4 children)

            by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday December 30 2017, @07:56PM (#615944) Journal

            My God. What kind of solipsistic, delusional hellscape is the inside of your head if you can type that with a straight face?

            Gynocentric? Western society is gynocentric? Seriously?! We haven't even had the right to fucking VOTE for 100 years! Marital rape was not outlawed until 1993! Gynocentric?!

            You're only proving my point when you mention that men harm other men in competition and often in competition for women. Yes, and? Men harming other men. Why not cooperate a bit? Why not approach women as human beings, rather than some prize to be won or some resource to be fought over and hoarded and stolen and traded? Jesus Christ, I sincerely hope you're not dating or married.

            Competing for womens' attention does not make our society gynocentric. It makes cross-gender relationships fucked up. And half of that is due to the above regarding how men view women. I swear to Cthulhu, not a day goes by but that I read something and thank my lucky stars I'm a lesbian...

            --
            I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
            • (Score: 2) by Arik on Saturday December 30 2017, @09:15PM (3 children)

              by Arik (4543) on Saturday December 30 2017, @09:15PM (#615973) Journal
              "We haven't even had the right to fucking VOTE for 100 years!"

              Interestingly enough, one of the reasons that female suffrage lagged a few years in the US was that polling showed women in this country were generally against it at first. There were many women who had little or no interest in voting, and *feared losing privileges.* This would be, logically, the consequence, right? Fully equality? So that means you're signing up for the draft... well no. Of course what wound up happening, on this issue and virtually always since, is that women's rights expand wherever the old ways limited them, but they rarely if ever contract in the areas of traditional privilege.

              So women have had the vote for nearly 100 years, and yet in that time not one single female has been drafted, for instance.

              "I swear to Cthulhu, not a day goes by but that I read something and thank my lucky stars I'm a lesbian.."

              Another of those inconvenient statistics is that lesbians are no less likely to batter their partners than men are. So be careful, and don't break your arm while you're patting yourself on the back.
              --
              If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
              • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday December 31 2017, @03:03AM (2 children)

                by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday December 31 2017, @03:03AM (#616051) Journal

                Lesbians have the highest *reported* rate of domestic violence. Reported does not necessarily equal actual. And I've had an abusive lover, but guess what? She's bi, not gay, and has had more men than women. I'm with a perfect gold-star girl now and we get along wonderfully. Don't break your neck shoving your head up your arse. Or do.

                --
                I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
                • (Score: 1, Touché) by kurenai.tsubasa on Sunday December 31 2017, @06:44PM (1 child)

                  by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Sunday December 31 2017, @06:44PM (#616178) Journal

                  No, lesbians are demonstrably more violent. This is how collective and several works, Azuma. It doesn't matter one bit what you do. You are not an individual, and it doesn't matter if you're just as well behaved as a gay man. We can conclude based on the data available that, because you are a lesbian, you are therefore violent.

                  It would be unfair to other lesbians, after all, if we were to conclude differently.

                  • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday December 31 2017, @10:51PM

                    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday December 31 2017, @10:51PM (#616249) Journal

                    Preeeeetty sure I'm an individual. That voice in my head is me, my own thoughts. If you are hearing voices that are not yours, you are either a telepath or a demoniac.

                    --
                    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
        • (Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Saturday December 30 2017, @11:19PM (3 children)

          by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Saturday December 30 2017, @11:19PM (#616006) Journal

          to use the example than so many meninists get their manties in a bunch over.

          I believe the rhetoric is substantially different when speaking of clitoral slicing or pin-pricking, which does much less tissue damage and does not even amputate an entire organ. I also believe that using your phrasing to refer to clitoral pin-prick generally results in a nuke from orbit being called down.

          That aside, where do we go from here? You women have boots on the ground, and you're coordinated. You post things here that indicate that you're aware that men are powerless. Perhaps your implication is that legal males should let their guard down so you can continue your abusive actions wrt the misogynerd narrative. Your boots on the ground are going to be in action when 2018 rolls around. I have no idea what to expect, but it's going to be complete hysteria. You are bullies who single out and attack men who are utterly without power in retaliation for the things that men with power do.

          You pull every petty bully tactic in the book. You set men up to fail just to watch them flail. You engage in gaslighting and outright lying routinely. Good grief, the compulsive lying gets old. Some days if a woman tells me that the sky is blue, I need to head outside to double-check. You even see no problem with fabricating evidence.

          You know what that makes you women? It makes you sycophants. It makes you complicit in the actions of men with power. Men with power do their inhuman cocaine-fulled lizard crap, and you believe you are justified in taking revenge against the most powerless legal male you can find. You are predators hoping that men continue to be stupid enough to keep using the strategy of merely being quicker than the slowest member of the herd.

          You are pretty far from the pure and innocent Hunnies you pretend to be.

          Where is this going? Are you women ever going to fight the kyriarchy instead of being their lackeys?

          • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday December 31 2017, @03:07AM (2 children)

            by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday December 31 2017, @03:07AM (#616053) Journal

            Kurenai, for the last fucking time, I am one of the ones who's on your side. Your constant, borderline-schizophrenic ranting not only does you personally no favors, but pushes the stereotype of transwomen as unstable crazy drama queens into the spotlight. You are harming other transwomen, do you understand this?

            You want to be physically female, but at the same time you seem to hate women. So...what gives? How does it make any sense to hate what you want to be? You are one sick little puppy, Kurenai, and I'm out of patience with you and your tantrums. Go fuck yourself.

            --
            I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
            • (Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Sunday December 31 2017, @04:17PM (1 child)

              by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Sunday December 31 2017, @04:17PM (#616151) Journal

              Good. Moving the misogynerd narrative to a blanket accusation of sex trafficking against everybody legally male in tech was too much.

              I didn't choose to have a female mind. I don't want to be an overweight, diabetic baby mamma with 10 kids from 8 different fathers living off welfare. If that means I'm not a woman, then sure, of course not!

              You assholes have gobs of privilege, and you abuse it horribly. How many women are involved in sex trafficking as pimps? Don't tell me the number is 0 because I fucking know better. This newest accusation of sex trafficking is nothing more than sick psychological projection.

              I'm glad we're agreed that the other can get fucked at this point.

              • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday December 31 2017, @10:50PM

                by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday December 31 2017, @10:50PM (#616247) Journal

                What the fuck are you ranting about? None of that addresses anything I said. Get off the internet, go have some tea or something, and calm down before you post again. You're going to collapse of apoplexy and die at your keyboard at this rate.

                --
                I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 03 2018, @10:06PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 03 2018, @10:06PM (#617380)

          So why is that? Couldn't have anything to do with the relative proportion and severity of violence committed by men vis-a-vis that committed by women, hmmmm...?

          Maybe we should treat people as individuals rather than statistics.

          • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 04 2018, @04:37AM

            by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday January 04 2018, @04:37AM (#617514) Journal

            The data say what the data say. Nothing less (or more). Groups are made of individuals.

            --
            I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...