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Man Gets 20 Years for Deadly "Swatting" Hoax:
Tyler Barriss has shown little remorse for the death of Andrew Finch.
Tyler Barriss, whose hoax call to Wichita police led to the shooting death of an innocent man, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, the Associated Press reports. The sentence in Kansas federal court is a stark reminder of the serious consequences of the deadly prank called "swatting."
The December 2017 death of Andrew Finch began with an online feud over a Call of Duty game. Casey Viner, then around 18 years old, allegedly recruited Barriss to "swat" the Wichita home of Shane Gaskill, who was about 19. Barriss called Wichita police pretending to be a deranged man with a gun holding members of his family hostage, giving what he believed was the target's address.
As Barriss expected, the police responded by dispatching a SWAT team. But Gaskill lied to Barriss about where he lived. As a result, police surrounded a home occupied by the Finch family, which had nothing to do with the online dispute.
When 28-year-old Andrew Finch opened his front door, a police officer shot him. The officer later said he saw Finch reaching for his waist and feared he had a gun. In reality, Finch was unarmed.
[...] In April, the incarcerated Barriss briefly gained access to the Internet—and he took the opportunity to demonstrate that he had learned nothing from his time behind bars.
"All right, now who was talking shit?" he tweeted on April 6, 2018. "Your ass is about to get swatted."
[...] Prosecutors decided not to charge the police officer who shot Finch.
With good behavior, he could get something like 30 months off his sentence. Something tells me he might have difficulty with that "good behavior" part.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 31 2019, @01:01AM (9 children)
The cretin has it coming, but the real culprit is the militarized police culture.
Gun righters are loons. They outta go after the civil forfeiture and swat teams terrorizing the civilians, but they don't say peep about this lunacy. And that's why they are loons.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday March 31 2019, @03:27AM (8 children)
You obviously only pay attention when you want to. I support gun rights, AND I have called for the end of civil forfeiture, AND, I have called for more accountability of the police. If we all exercised our gun rights, the police wouldn't be so willing to come crashing through your front door. Go buy a gun, and shoot back when the bullets start flying.
(Score: 1, Troll) by NotSanguine on Sunday March 31 2019, @03:43AM (2 children)
Right. And if you aren't shot 87 times and/or have the bad luck to shoot a cop, you're going to jail for a long, long time.
You really need to take your medication [tweaker.org] Runaway.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2, Insightful) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday March 31 2019, @09:02AM (1 child)
"You shoot first. And then you win." Gandhi.
Same with nuclear, by the way.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Monday April 01 2019, @05:30PM
Gandhi, from an alternate dark reality infested Sid Sid Meier's Civilization Series. https://kotaku.com/why-gandhi-is-such-an-asshole-in-civilization-1653818245 [kotaku.com]
Pretty much, everything he stood against.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday March 31 2019, @08:58AM (4 children)
Thank you for supporting the 2nd. Amendment! And we have a lot of 2nd. Amendment folks in Kansas. Trying to take back the power from the Gun Control "people." But, they're having big problems. And one of the biggest -- the schools. We want Good Guys with Guns in all the beautiful schools of Kansas. Not just the Teachers. The Custodians, the Cafeteria Ladies -- anyone that's incredibly gun adept. But, crooked Insurance Companies won't cover it. Sad!!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday March 31 2019, @10:44AM (3 children)
Uhhhhhh - let's not go overboard with pushing guns in schools. Yeah, we want guns in the schools, of course we do. But, it probably isn't necessary that EVERY staff member be armed. Let us instead, fasten on this phrase: "anyone that's incredibly gun adept". And, let's drop that one word, "incredibly". We end up with "anyone that's gun adept". And, there you have a reasonable target.
Not every staff member is going to be competent to handle a weapon. But, we do want to encourage every staff member who IS competent, to be ready to face the unthinkable: some sick son of a bitch wants to kill their students. That is what we are shooting at - nothing more, nothing less.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday March 31 2019, @11:11AM
Thank you, we agree 100%. The ones that are beautifully gun adept, we'll get some of the most amazing guns to them. The not so adept, we'll send to Gun School. Until they're VERY GUN SAFE. 100%. Then we give them guns. And it won't be everybody. Only the SMART ones. The ones that can learn Gun. And the School Shootings are going to PLUMMET. Huge step back to American Greatness!!
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Monday April 01 2019, @01:09PM (1 child)
> We end up with "anyone that's gun adept". And, there you have a reasonable target.
An ironic choice of words there.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday April 01 2019, @01:52PM
LOL, there is iron in them.