Looks like it finally happened...
Dec. 30th, 2017 04:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
owsf2000According to an article on slashdot, it looks like someone was finally killed as a result of a SWAT prank in Kansas. You know, where an infantile piece of human trash decides to call in a fake hostage/etc situation to provoke the police into sending a swat team to their house.
Most of the comments so far appear to be over how the police reacted. Meanwhile, regardless of how the police acted when they responded, even if they were a safe distance away when someone answered the door, I hope they find the person that placed the fake call in the first place and they end up serving a lengthy prison sentence. They're the murderer here. The SWAT team was just their weapon of choice. If they get off with a slap on the wrist, we'll see a spike in these cases.
Keep in mind this is under the assumption that the report it was a SWAT prank is true. If it turns out later that it was a legit call, but the SWAT team simply got the wrong house, then we'll switch the blame and prison sentence requests to the SWAT team.
If the SWAT team got the wrong house, but it was still a prank call, I think I'd still prefer the original placing of blame on the caller though since the SWAT team wouldn't have had the opportunity to get the wrong house if the call simply wasn't made.
tl;dr: I hope the caller, if it was a prank, has his life ruined as much as his victim's life was. (more or less.) I wouldn't even buy the excuse of "I didn't mean for him to get shot!!!" either. SWATTING has been in the news a lot over the years now, and there have been plenty of near-fatal-shootings and a LOT of people warning it could happen.
Most of the comments so far appear to be over how the police reacted. Meanwhile, regardless of how the police acted when they responded, even if they were a safe distance away when someone answered the door, I hope they find the person that placed the fake call in the first place and they end up serving a lengthy prison sentence. They're the murderer here. The SWAT team was just their weapon of choice. If they get off with a slap on the wrist, we'll see a spike in these cases.
Keep in mind this is under the assumption that the report it was a SWAT prank is true. If it turns out later that it was a legit call, but the SWAT team simply got the wrong house, then we'll switch the blame and prison sentence requests to the SWAT team.
If the SWAT team got the wrong house, but it was still a prank call, I think I'd still prefer the original placing of blame on the caller though since the SWAT team wouldn't have had the opportunity to get the wrong house if the call simply wasn't made.
tl;dr: I hope the caller, if it was a prank, has his life ruined as much as his victim's life was. (more or less.) I wouldn't even buy the excuse of "I didn't mean for him to get shot!!!" either. SWATTING has been in the news a lot over the years now, and there have been plenty of near-fatal-shootings and a LOT of people warning it could happen.
no subject
Date: 2017-12-30 11:08 pm (UTC)UPDATE: The New York Daily News reports police in Los Angeles have now arrested 25-year-old gamer Tyler Barriss, who the paper describes as "an alleged serial 'prankster'..."
"Barriss gave cops Finch's address, mistakenly believing it belonged to a person he had feuded with over a $1 or $2 Call of Duty wager."
So, apparently, it wasn't the cops who got the wrong address, but the dumb fucker who made the call in the first place.
Fuck this guy and everyone like him.
no subject
Date: 2017-12-30 11:24 pm (UTC)"Here's what seems to have gone down. Two individuals were playing Call of Duty and got into an argument online over a game with a $1.50 wager. One of them, a person with the Twitter handle @SWauTistic, threatened to swat user @7aLeNT. The latter then provided an address that wasn't actually their own in response to the threat. Shortly thereafter, @SWauTistic allegedly called in the false report, which led to a police response at the provided address. Andrew Finch, who lived at the address, reportedly went to the front door in response to the commotion and was shot."
no subject
Date: 2017-12-30 11:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-30 11:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-30 11:56 pm (UTC)