Argument over Call of Duty wager leads to death of innocent man in "swatting" incident

Update: A man has been arrested in connection with Thursday night’s swatting incident in Kansas. The Los Angeles Police department has confirmed that they have arrested 25-year-old Tyler Barriss on Friday afternoon. Barriss was previously arrested in 2015 in connection with making a bomb threat to ABC Studios in Glendale.

Police in Kansas have released the 911 call that lead to the death of 28-year-old Andrew Finch. A body camera video from the shooting has been released by the police as well.

Deputy Police Chief Troy Livingston gave his account of what happened when Finch opened his door:

“Officers gave him several verbal commands to put his hands up and walk towards them. The male complied for a very short time and then put his hands back down to his waist. The officers continued to give him verbal commands to put his hands up, and he lowered them again.

“The male then turned towards the officers on the east side of the residence, lowered his hands to the waistband again, then suddenly pulled them back up towards those officers at the east.

“The officers on the north side of the street feared the male pulled a weapon from his waistband, retrieved a gun and was in the process of pointing it at the officers to the east. Fearing for those officers’ safety, the officer on the north side fired one round.”

Finch’s mother Lisa disputes this claim, saying saying her son was not given a verbal warning prior to the shooting.

Original Story:

A fake “swatting” call has left a 28-year-old man from Kansas dead after being accidentally shot by police. This whole tragic incident apparently stemmed from a $1.50 Call of Duty wager dispute.

Thursday night, authorities responded to a call that indicated there was a possible homicide and hostage situation at the victim’s—identified as Andrew Finch—home in Wichita (via The Wichita Eagle 1, 2). Upon coming to the front door, an officer fired his weapon, injuring Finch who was later pronounced dead at the hospital. His mother spoke with the local news in a video that can be viewed here.

“It was a shooting call involving hostages,” said Deputy Police Chief Troy Livingston. “The original call, we were told someone had an argument with their mother and dad was accidentally shot. And now that person was holding mother, brother and sister hostage. We learned through that call that a father was deceased, and had been shot in the head. That was the information we were working off of.”

The officer will be placed on paid administrative leave, per department policy, as the incident is investigated.

Swatting, for those who don’t know, is a “prank” where someone calls the police department claiming a serious crime is going on at someone else’s house. The idea is that if that person is livestreaming a video game over Twitch, viewers will then see a SWAT team or police officers break into their home and arrest them. It’s a notorious internet hoax that most people despise, but a few people don’t think about the consequences of their actions. In this case, an innocent man was killed.

Dexerto reports that the Call of Duty community uncovered what lead to this tragedy. Two Call of Duty players got into a dispute over a $1.50 wager on UMG’s wager platform online. One player then sent over an incorrect address that lead police to Finch’s house, though he was not involved in the argument.

Professional Call of Duty players on Twitter have attempted to explain the situation themselves (via CharlieINTEL).

https://t.co/ZCTqzucWwnhttps://t.co/FC0hyrUPwh

— Chris (@Parasite) December 29, 2017

To be thrown in jail. Went to the police to inform them so my house doesn’t get swatted. Ridiculous at this point. pic.twitter.com/UmA6aeAynS

— FaZe ZooMaa (@ZooMaa) December 29, 2017