Last Friday, Tyler Barriss, 25, was arrested after the Wichita, Kansas police issued a fugitive warrant. He is currently being held in a Los Angeles jail without bail, awaiting extradition to Kansas for the “swatting” (making a false police report, usually of an urgent or violent crime, to lure law enforcement or SWAT teams to a location.1) death of Andrew Finch (pictured above). Once he arrives in Sedgwick County, Kansas, he will face a felony false alarm charge.
According to CNN,
“A man who claims to know Barriss through the gaming community told CNN that an argument ensued after a ‘Call of Duty’ match and that one of the gamers involved reached out to Barriss to request that he swat the other gamer. The source did not want to give his name for fear of reprisal from the gaming community.”2
However, Finch’s family have said he wasn’t a gamer, so he couldn’t have been the intended target. It is unclear why Bariss was given Finch’s address or by whom.
Wichita police Deputy chief Livingston said they were working off FALSE information made by Barriss on December 28th about a domestic shooting and hostage situation. Police arrived at the address given, surrounded the home, and when Finch answered the front door, an officer opened fire on him after he moved his hands to his waistline. Finch later died at the hospital.
This is not the first time Barriss has had trouble with police. In 2015 he was jailed for making a bomb threat to a television station. Also, the idea of “swatting” had been on his mind; two acquaintances who know Barriss through the gaming community say his Twitter handle was @SWAuTistic and in a December 22 tweet, he said he was “thinking about swatting” the FBI headquarters.3
There are no winners here. Our heart goes out to Lisa and the rest of her family.
