Man Who Made Hoax Call In Deadly Swatting Seeks 20-Year Term

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Megalith

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20 years, please: Tyler Barriss, the man responsible for “making a hoax call that led police to fatally shoot a Kansas man following a dispute between two online gamers over $1.50 bet in a Call of Duty WWII video game,” is begging the judge to give him the minimum of his plea deal, which calls for 20 to 25 years in federal prison. According to his attorney, “Barriss never intended for anyone to get hurt and his conduct was an outgrowth of the culture within the gaming community.”

Defense attorney Rich Federico portrayed his client as sincerely remorseful for calling Wichita police from Los Angeles on Dec. 28, 2017, to falsely report a shooting and kidnapping at a Wichita address. A police officer responding to the call fatally shot Andrew Finch, 28, after he opened the door. Finch, who was not playing video games, lived at the gamer's old address. In a letter to the Finch family, Barriss wrote that he thinks every day about how his actions led to his death. He asked for forgiveness and expressed his "hope that my sentence may in some way help you feel better that justice is done," according to the filing.
 
According to his attorney, “Barriss never intended for anyone to get hurt and his conduct was an outgrowth of the culture within the gaming community.” LOL.

He thinks the "outgrowth" of the gaming community is bad? Wait till get gets to federal pound me in the ass prison...
 
While he deserves to be locked up, it's bullshit that they're not addressing the cops were so gung ho and rarted that they went to the wrong place and shot the guy without proper protocol. It's like he's being made to take heat for both his and their fuckups.
 
ouch 20 years fed style he wont be eligible for parole until he does 85% of that.
 
According to his attorney, “Barriss never intended for anyone to get hurt and his conduct was an outgrowth of the culture within the gaming community.” LOL.


That statement right there with the continue dismissal of any personal responsibility and putting blame on gaming culture makes me hate this individual to the point where anything less than life is frankly insulting.
 
While he deserves to be locked up, it's bullshit that they're not addressing the cops were so gung ho and rarted that they went to the wrong place and shot the guy without proper protocol. It's like he's being made to take heat for both his and their fuckups.

Though true, the fact of the matter is the cops would have never gotten the chance to be "gung ho" without this individual calling them to his residence over a false kidnapping in the first place. The blame lies solely on the perp here.
 
You know if you add up all the people killed wrongfully by cops lately, it outnumbers the plague.

Black kid with a walkman -- kill him. Guy answering the door -- kill him. Dude runs -- shoot him in the back.

Lots of cop fuck ups.

But yeah, this asshat should die in a deep dark hole from one of is favorite video games.
 
It's disgusting what corporations have done to jail sentencing in America. No one should ever be locked up for more than 10 years MAX, unless they are deemed a danger to themselves or society. We should be rehabilitating people, not destroying even more lives for corporate profit.
 
Though true, the fact of the matter is the cops would have never gotten the chance to be "gung ho" without this individual calling them to his residence over a false kidnapping in the first place. The blame lies solely on the perp here.

I disagree. Would you say the same if I called in a false Drunk Driver report and the cop shot him? How about jaywalking? From the video, it is really hard to justify the cop's action. Just like the Las Vegas cop who shot the guy while he was crawling on the floor. I'm pretty pro law enforcement and I tend to err on the side of the police in shootings, but I can't say this person deserves the fullest punishment allowed because a cop got trigger happy
 
You know if you add up all the people killed wrongfully by cops lately, it outnumbers the plague.

That is an uneducated and ridiculous statement. The bubonic plague killed ~60% of the population of Europe. Regardless of your feelings about cops, they don't kill the equivalent of 60% of the population of a small town let alone the entire population of Europe.
 
Though true, the fact of the matter is the cops would have never gotten the chance to be "gung ho" without this individual calling them to his residence over a false kidnapping in the first place. The blame lies solely on the perp here.

I think there's enough blame to go around. Lets put it another way. Lets say the kid made the exact same SWATting call to the exact same person's house, and the cops had entered and handled it in a way that nobody got hurt. Now, its obvious that the kid who made the phony 911 call would be charged with something to the effect of "making a knowingly false police/911 report which leads to misuse of police resources". Without a significant criminal history, its likely he wouldn't even be given jail time - instead it could be something like a a fine (including payment to the victim for anything destroyed during the police's entry, like the door or whatnot), classes on why this is a bad thing to do, and some community service. . That would in many cases be perfectly reasonable and has happened often before, with SWATTing cases where it is simply some stupid kid doing it for the fun of watching the cops bust down a streamer's door and/or to freak out a rival.

The fact that the victim died had nothing at all do to with the accused's original crime but instead rests entirely on the police's mishandling of the situation. Other SWAT teams have handled similar situations - some of them even becoming the meme-laden videos we see after breaking into a streamer's house - without even doing undo levels of violence to property much less killing anyone! That death is entirely on the SWAT team's conduct and given what we've seen about quick-trigger cops breaking down doors and causing deaths for suspected credit card fraud, not even having the right house, or shooting the goddamn dog (not to mention other circumstances that aren't SWAT related), laying the blame at the prank caller isn't right. Worse, trying to append a 20+ year custodial sentence on someone who is young and not a danger to society etc... all because some cops screwed up is even more distasteful. I'd be very interested to see if there's any investigation into the SWAT team's wrongdoing that doesn't come out clearing them entirely and considering the victim's death a "tragic accident".

Give the kid a minor sentence for the crime itself, properly investigate the SWAT raid and - even if there is no practical wrongdoing - give his family a settlement for the wrongful death caused by said raid. Putting it all on the caller isn't right.
 
I think there's enough blame to go around. Lets put it another way. Lets say the kid made the exact same SWATting call to the exact same person's house, and the cops had entered and handled it in a way that nobody got hurt. Now, its obvious that the kid who made the phony 911 call would be charged with something to the effect of "making a knowingly false police/911 report which leads to misuse of police resources". Without a significant criminal history, its likely he wouldn't even be given jail time - instead it could be something like a a fine (including payment to the victim for anything destroyed during the police's entry, like the door or whatnot), classes on why this is a bad thing to do, and some community service. . That would in many cases be perfectly reasonable and has happened often before, with SWATTing cases where it is simply some stupid kid doing it for the fun of watching the cops bust down a streamer's door and/or to freak out a rival.

The fact that the victim died had nothing at all do to with the accused's original crime but instead rests entirely on the police's mishandling of the situation. Other SWAT teams have handled similar situations - some of them even becoming the meme-laden videos we see after breaking into a streamer's house - without even doing undo levels of violence to property much less killing anyone! That death is entirely on the SWAT team's conduct and given what we've seen about quick-trigger cops breaking down doors and causing deaths for suspected credit card fraud, not even having the right house, or shooting the goddamn dog (not to mention other circumstances that aren't SWAT related), laying the blame at the prank caller isn't right. Worse, trying to append a 20+ year custodial sentence on someone who is young and not a danger to society etc... all because some cops screwed up is even more distasteful. I'd be very interested to see if there's any investigation into the SWAT team's wrongdoing that doesn't come out clearing them entirely and considering the victim's death a "tragic accident".

Give the kid a minor sentence for the crime itself, properly investigate the SWAT raid and - even if there is no practical wrongdoing - give his family a settlement for the wrongful death caused by said raid. Putting it all on the caller isn't right.

A minor sentence? Fuck no. Swatting should be treated as attempted murder.
 
I think there's enough blame to go around. Lets put it another way. Lets say the kid made the exact same SWATting call to the exact same person's house, and the cops had entered and handled it in a way that nobody got hurt. Now, its obvious that the kid who made the phony 911 call would be charged with something to the effect of "making a knowingly false police/911 report which leads to misuse of police resources". Without a significant criminal history, its likely he wouldn't even be given jail time - instead it could be something like a a fine (including payment to the victim for anything destroyed during the police's entry, like the door or whatnot), classes on why this is a bad thing to do, and some community service. . That would in many cases be perfectly reasonable and has happened often before, with SWATTing cases where it is simply some stupid kid doing it for the fun of watching the cops bust down a streamer's door and/or to freak out a rival.

The fact that the victim died had nothing at all do to with the accused's original crime but instead rests entirely on the police's mishandling of the situation. Other SWAT teams have handled similar situations - some of them even becoming the meme-laden videos we see after breaking into a streamer's house - without even doing undo levels of violence to property much less killing anyone! That death is entirely on the SWAT team's conduct and given what we've seen about quick-trigger cops breaking down doors and causing deaths for suspected credit card fraud, not even having the right house, or shooting the goddamn dog (not to mention other circumstances that aren't SWAT related), laying the blame at the prank caller isn't right. Worse, trying to append a 20+ year custodial sentence on someone who is young and not a danger to society etc... all because some cops screwed up is even more distasteful. I'd be very interested to see if there's any investigation into the SWAT team's wrongdoing that doesn't come out clearing them entirely and considering the victim's death a "tragic accident".

Give the kid a minor sentence for the crime itself, properly investigate the SWAT raid and - even if there is no practical wrongdoing - give his family a settlement for the wrongful death caused by said raid. Putting it all on the caller isn't right.

You can make "Lets say" stories up all day. But the fact of the matter is the person did die, as a direct result of him calling in a false kidnapping. Simple cause and effect. There is no grey area here.
 
... Lets say the kid made the exact same SWATting call ... Now, its obvious that the kid who made the phony 911 call would be charged with something to the effect of "making a knowingly false police/911 report which leads to misuse of police resources". W....ases where it is simply some stupid kid doing it for the fun of watching the cops bust down a streamer's door and/or to freak out a rival. .

Give the kid a minor sentence for the crime itself, properly investigate the SWAT raid and - ...t.


He's 26 fucking years old.

He's not remotely close to being a kid.

Plus he's been calling in fake threats for years.
 
It's disgusting what corporations have done to jail sentencing in America. No one should ever be locked up for more than 10 years MAX, unless they are deemed a danger to themselves or society. We should be rehabilitating people, not destroying even more lives for corporate profit.

Corporate profit?
Not sure what state you live in, but California has some of the most expensive prisons in the country (cost per inmate).
These are almost all state run prisons. The few private prisons (they might be shut down by now) were much cheaper.

It's the greedy unions that have pushed up the cost of prisons in this state, not corporations.
The same unions that tried to destroy any politician that supported private prisons. (can't have any competition that would make the state run prisons look bad)
 
While he deserves to be locked up, it's bullshit that they're not addressing the cops were so gung ho and rarted that they went to the wrong place and shot the guy without proper protocol. It's like he's being made to take heat for both his and their fuckups.

I agree. I also think "no-knock" warrants should be illegal. Who wouldn't get their gun and start shooting when people are trying to break into their houses in the middle of the night.
 
According to his attorney, “Barriss never intended for anyone to get hurt and his conduct was an outgrowth of the culture within the gaming community.” LOL.

He thinks the "outgrowth" of the gaming community is bad? Wait till get gets to federal pound me in the ass prison...

If I remember correctly, this little scumbag already spent time in jail, possibly for SWATting someone else, so I have no sympathy, and I don't believe his lawyer.

ETA: nope, but he'd spent 16 months in jail for fake bomb hoaxes and when he did this little number he was already wanted by the police elsewhere for...more bomb threats.
 
From the video, it is really hard to justify the cop's action.

At the time it was reported Bariss had been taunting the cops and threatening them, saying stuff like (IIRC) he was going to charge out the door guns a-blazing.
 
If I remember correctly, this little scumbag already spent time in jail, possibly for SWATting someone else, so I have no sympathy, and I don't believe his lawyer.

ETA: nope, but he'd spent 16 months in jail for fake bomb hoaxes and when he did this little number he was already wanted by the police elsewhere for...more bomb threats.

Wow.
 
The fact that the victim died had nothing at all do to with the accused's original crime

Well, let's look into that a bit. From this past November: "With his public defender at his side and two law enforcement officers on guard at his back, Tyler Barriss pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon to 51 federal charges involving fake bomb threats, murders and other violence reported at schools, shopping centers, TV stations, homes and government buildings across the country." (I believe those are mostly prior to the KC SWATting. But what does Wikipedia say about the call on that day? "The caller stated that the suspect had shot and killed his father, was holding his mother and younger brother hostage, and was planning to set the house on fire." Oh.
 

Yeah. He's a monster. I don't see any mention of anyone getting hurt before this, but a year+ in jail didn't get him to stop this stuff. It sounds like he's only remorseful now because he's going away for a very long time.

I don't see any indication in the linked article that he's actually sorry his actions got a man killed, either. (Oh, and while searching, I discovered that Andrew Finch's (the man who was killed by the cops) niece committed suicide last month, being unable to deal with the events of that day.
 
a young man, he spent almost all of his time indoors playing video games. His only family was his grandmother. He was homeschooled until he quit school altogether. Barriss has never had a job. At the time of his arrest he was living in a homeless shelter in Los Angeles.

nothing of value lost. in fact it seems like a stay at prison is an up shot from where he was
 
His initial statements he made online tells me all I need to know about Tyler Barriss. He isn't remorseful at all.

Get this, he obtained internet access in jail and guess what his tweets were?

"Your ass is about to get swatted." - ARS Rechnica article

No, he isn't one bit remorseful and will not take ownership of his errors. Throw the book at him.
 
"The caller stated that the suspect had shot and killed his father, was holding his mother and younger brother hostage, and was planning to set the house on fire." Oh.

If that isn't attempted murder, I don't know what is.

Calling the cops for a noise complaint garners a very different threat level response (and threshold for lethal force) than telling them an armed suspect has committed murder, and is about to do some more.
 
At the time it was reported Bariss had been taunting the cops and threatening them, saying stuff like (IIRC) he was going to charge out the door guns a-blazing.

Well, I understand that the police was told an exaggerated story, which is the case in all the swattings. But in the video, he casually walks out on the porch, looks like his hands were up and then there some shadow and the cop shoots. There was no charging out the door, nor any guns a blazing. It's a mess no doubt, and I'm not saying stone the officer who shot, but since there was only 1 officer who fired and not all of them, it is pretty clear he was just too edgy on the trigger.

If that isn't attempted murder, I don't know what is.

Calling the cops for a noise complaint garners a very different threat level response (and threshold for lethal force) than telling them an armed suspect has committed murder, and is about to do some more.

Far as I know, this was the first swatting case that ended with someone being killed. So if you had 40 other swattings with no other shootings\killings, I don't think it counts as premeditated\attempted murder because he didn't expect them to kill anyone.
 
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I hate the advocacy for sexual abuse so frequent in these threads. Not just here.

This guy is being made an example of, something that in itself shows a weak justice system. I have no sympathy towards him or the crime, it's horrible and outrageous he did what he did. He should absolutely go to prison. 20+ years is a lot of time, but another person didn't get to finish their young life and perhaps this is justified. But the amount of glee and escalation, people feeling that this guy must be destroyed either by time, sexual abuse or murder is insane. This isn't how you improve your society and the proof for that is: IT'S STILL HAPPENING.

No, we don't need to cuddle the perp. Prison time is appropriate, and a long one at that. But I really wish we'd re-target the system at rehabilitation, not punishment. And I wish more people would show support for that. But oh well, right, so much easier to throw this guy away and not think about it any further.
 
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Well, let's look into that a bit. From this past November: "With his public defender at his side and two law enforcement officers on guard at his back, Tyler Barriss pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon to 51 federal charges involving fake bomb threats, murders and other violence reported at schools, shopping centers, TV stations, homes and government buildings across the country." (I believe those are mostly prior to the KC SWATting. But what does Wikipedia say about the call on that day? "The caller stated that the suspect had shot and killed his father, was holding his mother and younger brother hostage, and was planning to set the house on fire." Oh.

He may have been a general asshole (and that should certainly be a part of his sentence) but every SWATing crime by nature is always one of potential immanent threat - a bomb threat, suggesting that someone is going to kill themselves or someone else, etc.... otherwise it would not have SWAT or any similar tactical units knocking down a door, as opposed to standard investigation. Yet many of these, thanks to disciplined units and more, don't end up in this kind of tragedy; someone I spoke to in law enforcement awhile ago told me that Swatting education is/should part of the curriculum these days since the high profile incidents. Certainly his priors if wikipedia/articles are accurate suggest the caller clearly has a pattern and is definitely culpable for it which should undeniably affect in his sentencing. This doesn't necessarily mean that there was no wrongdoing in the unit that ended up killing the victim. Hopefully a thorough investigation will take place whatever the outcome.
 
Fuck him. Give him the damn chair. Whether you shock him until he's charred meat, or you beat him to death with one, I don't care. Someone died because he thought it'd be funny to put someone in a life or death situation that didn't need to happen.
 
Fuck him. Give him the damn chair. Whether you shock him until he's charred meat, or you beat him to death with one, I don't care. Someone died because he thought it'd be funny to put someone in a life or death situation that didn't need to happen.

I second this sentiment. Drop him in the deep ocean with cement shoes.
 
You know if you add up all the people killed wrongfully by cops lately, it outnumbers the plague.

Black kid with a walkman -- kill him. Guy answering the door -- kill him. Dude runs -- shoot him in the back.

Lots of cop fuck ups.

But yeah, this asshat should die in a deep dark hole from one of is favorite video games.


you mean cops in USA killed > ~200 million people (more than half of the us population)? or more than plague deaths in USA this last year?
 
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