A 28-year-old Kansas man was shot and killed by police officers on the evening of Dec. 28 after someone fraudulently reported a hostage situation ongoing at his home. The false report was the latest in a dangerous hoax known as “swatting,” wherein the perpetrator falsely reports a dangerous situation at an address with the goal of prompting authorities to respond to that address with deadly force. This particular swatting reportedly originated over a $1.50 wagered match in the online game Call of Duty. Compounding the tragedy is that the man killed was an innocent party who had no part in the dispute.
The following is an analysis of what is known so far about the incident, as well as a brief interview with the alleged and self-professed perpetrator of this crime.
It appears that the dispute and subsequent taunting originated on Twitter. One of the parties to that dispute — allegedly using the Twitter handle “SWauTistic” — threatened to swat another user who goes by the nickname “7aLeNT“. @7aLeNT dared someone to swat him, but then tweeted an address that was not his own.
Swautistic responded by falsely reporting to the Kansas police a domestic dispute at the address 7aLenT posted, telling the authorities that one person had already been murdered there and that several family members were being held hostage.
Image courtesey @mattcarries
A story in the Wichita Eagle says officers responded to the 1000 block of McCormick and got into position, preparing for a hostage situation.
“A male came to the front door,” Livingston said. “As he came to the front door, one of our officers discharged his weapon.”
“Livingston didn’t say if the man, who was 28, had a weapon when he came to the door, or what caused the officer to shoot the man. Police don’t think the man fired at officers, but the incident is still under investigation, he said. The man, who has not been identified by police, died at a local hospital.
“A family member identified that man who was shot by police as Andrew Finch. One of Finch’s cousins said Finch didn’t play video games.”
Not long after that, Swautistic was back on Twitter saying he could see on television that the police had fallen for his swatting attack. When it became apparent that a man had been killed as a result of the swatting, Swautistic tweeted that he didn’t get anyone killed because he didn’t pull the trigger (see image above).
Swautistic soon changed his Twitter handle to @GoredTutor36, but KrebsOnSecurity managed to obtain several weeks’ worth of tweets from Swautistic before his account was renamed. Those tweets indicate that Swautistic is a serial swatter — meaning he has claimed responsibility for a number of other recent false reports to the police.
Among the recent hoaxes he’s taken credit for include a false report of a bomb threat at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that disrupted a high-profile public meeting on the net neutrality debate. Swautistic also has claimed responsibility for a hoax bomb threat that forced the evacuation of the Dallas Convention Center, and another bomb threat at a high school in Panama City, Fla, among others.
After tweeting about the incident extensively this afternoon, KrebsOnSecurity was contacted by someone in control of the @GoredTutor36 Twitter account. GoredTutor36 said he’s been the victim of swatting attempts himself, and that this was the reason he decided to start swatting others.
He said the thrill of it “comes from having to hide from police via net connections.” Asked about the FCC incident, @GoredTutor36 acknowledged it was his bomb threat. “Yep. Raped em,” he wrote.
“Bomb threats are more fun and cooler than swats in my opinion and I should have just stuck to that,” he wrote. “But I began making $ doing some swat requests.”
Asked whether he feels remorse about the Kansas man’s death, he responded “of course I do.”
But evidently not enough to make him turn himself in.
“I won’t disclose my identity until it happens on its own,” the user said in a long series of direct messages on Twitter. “People will eventually (most likely those who know me) tell me to turn myself in or something. I can’t do that; though I know its [sic] morally right. I’m too scared admittedly.”
Update, 7:15 p.m.: A recording of the call to 911 operators that prompted this tragedy can be heard at this link. The playback of the recorded emergency calls starts around 10 minutes into the video.
Update, Dec. 30, 8:06 a.m. ET: Police in Los Angeles reportedly have arrested 25-year-old Tyler Raj Barriss in connection with the swatting attack.
ANALYSIS
As a victim of my own swatting attack back in 2013, I’ve been horrified to watch these crimes only increase in frequency ever since — usually with little or no repercussions for the person or persons involved in setting the schemes in motion. Given that the apparent perpetrator of this crime seems eager for media attention, it seems likely he will be apprehended soon. My guess is that he is a minor and will be treated with kid gloves as a result, although I hope I’m wrong on both counts.
Let me be crystal clear on a couple of points. First off, there is no question that police officers and first responders across the country need a great deal more training to bring the number of police shootings way down. That is undoubtedly a giant contributor to the swatting epidemic.
Also, all police officers and dispatchers need to be trained on what swatting is, how to spot the signs of a hoax, and how to minimize the risk of anyone getting harmed when responding to reports about hostage situations or bomb threats. Finally, officers of the peace who are sworn to protect and serve should use deadly force only in situations where there is a clear and immediate threat. Those who jump the gun need to be held accountable as well.
But that kind of reform isn’t going to happen overnight. Meanwhile, knowingly and falsely making a police report that results in a SWAT unit or else heavily armed police response at an address is an invitation for someone to get badly hurt or killed. These are high-pressure situations and in most cases — as in this incident — the person opening the door has no idea what’s going on. Heaven protect everyone at the scene if the object of the swatting attack is someone who is already heavily armed and confused enough about the situation to shoot anything that comes near his door.
In some states, filing a false police report is just a misdemeanor and is mainly punishable by fines. However, in other jurisdictions filing a false police report is a felony, and I’m afraid it’s long past time for these false reports about dangerous situations to become a felony offense in every state. Here’s why.
If making a fraudulent report about a hostage situation or bomb threat is a felony, then if anyone dies as a result of that phony report they can legally then be charged with felony murder. Under the doctrine of felony murder, when an offender causes the death of another (regardless of intent) in the commission of a dangerous crime, he or she is guilty of murder.
Too often, however, the perpetrators of these crimes are minors, and even when they’re caught they are frequently given a slap on the wrist. Swatting needs to stop, and unfortunately as long as there are few consequences for swatting someone, it will continue to be a potentially deadly means for gaining e-fame and for settling childish and pointless ego squabbles.
Would this outcome have occurred if the police were more circumspect? Seems to be shoot first and ask questions afterwards.
Hundreds if not thousands of SWATing attacks have happened by now. It is a miracle that this is the very first person who was killed.
He’s not the first person killed. Anti-gun whackos swatted a guy carrying a bb gun (which he was planning to buy) through Wal-Mart and got him killed a year or two ago. Possibly others, but I don’t know.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_John_Crawford_III
Let us not participate in revisionist history. You don’t have to be an “anti-gun nut” to call the cops when some guy is waving a gun around a Wal-Mart.
Oh wait, are you presenting alternative facts? 😉
The only person who called 911 in the Walmart shooting you mentioned was Ronald Ritchie, a former U.S. Marine. Do you have an actual reason to accuse him of being an “anti-gun whacko” or are you just ignorant?
Well, that’s the American way isn’t it?
No, it isn’t. Shame on you.
This is pretty much reserved to the US, with some rare cases in Cannada, but you will be hardpressed to find anything like this happening outside of NA.
Doesn’t happen anywhere else, mate. Enjoy what your countrymen’s childlike obsession with guns has sown.
I have received thousands of those terrorist phone calls. The FBI thinks that’s mega funny….
Inspector Didi
“Bomb threats He said the thrill of it “
Then the Feds come breaking down your door and then you realize the seriousness of what you did.
Both cop and perpetrators of hoax need to pay with incarceration…
Was hoping you’d weigh in on this one. Thanks for your insights. Keep ’em coming! And BTW, happy 8th anniversary, with many more returns!
Looks like SWATting is a felony in my US state (MA). But the law is drawn more for bomb threats. Needs clarification.
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIV/TitleI/Chapter269/Section14
So as a Police Officer, I disagree on your analysis of Police. Its easy to judge us based off the media reports. I read your blog regularly and I agree on most of your stuff, however, not this. I work a large agency in a large city, so maybe my training is better than most.. but Police arent the donut eating morons the media and television has you to believe. We also don’t have the advanced technology that CSI Miami and other shows have.
We do vet all the info we can, SWATing wasn’t when false reports started. Police have dealt with false calls probably since the invention of the telephone dispatch center.
Anyway, if you want to see a change, then make that change. Create a training for law enforcement, instead of acting like Police are dumb trigger happy idiots who aren’t smart enough to tell when a call is fake.
Even when we feel a call is fake we still have to respond as if it was real, because many Police have been called to fake calls only to be ambushed. That is in the terrorist playbook.. create a mass incident, wait for emergency response, them use IEDs, etc.
PS, for those that think Police shoot first and ask questions later.. stop believing the media spin. In a situation as described above, we secure the scene and wait for SWAT. If its an active shooter most agencies train for the first few officers to immediately go in. Analysis of active shooters show that wasted time equals more deaths of innocents.
Also, in situations like my agency. Our dispatch is civilian, they get what info they can. We respond and often figure things out on the fly. We confirm or dispel the call once we arrive, then adjust from there. We don’t have the opportunity to go to the precinct and write out a plan, we have to respond and do things on the fly. Often our actions are based off the information we have at the time.. not the information that gets released at the end of the investigation. Hind sight is always 20/20.
While I understand that we were not there I did not see Krebs categorizing the police in anyway. I will though. The police are trained to escalate things in a militaristic manner. That is fact. There are ways of gathering info on site without kicking in the door guns drawn firing at everything that moves. We see it far too often. You can argue about officer safety but when innocent civilians are killed at a much higher rate than police there is a problem. They could have rolled a squad car over and knocked or taken a look but the police want to roll out their big guns.
I am making assumptions but those assumptions are based on other similar cases and I am sure we will see the same here.
Oh please, spare me the “we’re professionals” talk. No, when professionals have, in their midst, people who screw up under pressure, then those people need a new profession. Instead, they may be fired and end up in the department of another jurisdiction. The problem is the lack of standards enforced by and the masking of poor performers by your unions, specifically the FOP, I’ve had several close associates over the years complain about steroid-fueled screwballs who they don’t want to work with but who are able to pass the psych exams. Get your own house clean, why should citizens suffer what you can’t take care of!
I think you may be one of the single digit percentage aberrations in your industry, Bill. My experience has been that regardless of city -and I’ve resided in many- By and large, law enforcement is comprised of trigger happy bullies tripping on power that do, in fact, shoot first and ask questions later. Those among your ilk ought to be advocating for change rather than foisting it upon civilians who are more likely to be gunned down for absolutely no reason by law enforcement.
Sorry I forgot to give a link to the Guardian article.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/09/the-counted-police-killings-us-vs-other-countries
I am no police basher. Have family on the force. All have moved on to private security gigs. They all say the same thing’s. You have the ego cop’s I’m better then anyone out there. Then you have the scaredy cop’s they jump at a pin drop. These are the cop’s that get innocent people killed. My family former cop’s also said training is a joke. They all graduated college with degrees in criminal justice. They believe that at a minimum community colleges now offer AAS degrees in Police Science. They say this is at least the very minimum requirement to be mandated to become a police officer. Can’t make it through school. Then most of the bone heads and scaredy people would wash out. Then allowing only quality to go through the academy. I believe the cop who shot this person deserves a prison sentence minimum man slaughter. This is a perfect example of a scaredy cop. They need to get these men and women out of every department along with the ego cop’s. Education and training is everything. Also just because you served in the military should not be an automatic green light to be a cop. Everyone should meet a minimum college degree in a criminal justice field to qualify. Better education better police.
A very well thought out and accurate response, thank you WilliamZ for your input. I find that a majority of media stories are spun to make people look stupid, “trigger happy” and basically more dramatic that the reality. That, unfortunately, is what sells papers. As long as we continue to tune it to literal “fake news” and allow them to count our view to their advertisers, this trend will continue.
Brian, thank you for bringing this to light, your keeping us on top of these things is much appreciated.
The Guardian published a good article about police shootings and police killings from around the world in 2015. The stats are very revealing, it probably won’t come as a surprise that California compared to Canada, although have the similar populations, has three times the number of police shooting deaths. Similar comparisons with other countries, both with and without strong gun laws, draw similar conclusions. Personally I think it is because of US style “shock and awe” training. I see similar things on YouTube with some US police feeling like they have to dominate every situation they have, regardless of whether it is warranted. Some of the police behaviour I have seen on YouTube would get you suspended or even fired in other countries.
Sorry I forgot to post the link to the Guardian article.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/09/the-counted-police-killings-us-vs-other-countries
“Its easy to judge us based off the media reports.”
Yes, heaven forbid that the media report on all of the innocents who are murdered by police in cold blood, and how often those officers get away with it.
To those engaging in cop bashing, which is soooo in fashion these days, go spend a day or two in their shoes and see what they have to deal with on a day to day, sometimes even minute to minute basis. Unless you have done that, you probably have no idea what you are talking about and should take the cotton out of your ears, put it in your mouth, sit down, shut up and listen for a change. Blaming anyone but the swatter is beyond ludicrous.
Sorry to be so abrasive, but the stupidity of cop bashing has gotten way way out of hand in our society. I would expect a little more sense here.
Our rules of engagement in Iraq were stricter than those of U.S. domestic police officers.
I completely agree. While police might have to treat the call as legitimate until otherwise, it does not explain the fact that an unarmed man is dead at the hands of those officers.
That’s where the blame lies. Officers with itchy trigger fingers.
I was in the army. I served in iraq. I did foot patrols, cordon and knock, and route clearances. Never once was I told I could kill someone cause I was scared. Not until killer police officers are held to task by their own will we see changes.
I am a retired and disabled military and LE. 29 years of service to our community and country.
You articulated my heart exactly about the stone throwers about the swatting and false reporting baiting police response. In my opinion this new cybor initiated fake reporting should be a top priority for the DOJ, FBI and others to track down and prosecute and sentence all those involved.
I am tired of all the stone throwing rhetoric that further divides our country. Once we fix the swatting false reporters we need to prosecute the stone throwers, lol.
Thank you for such a great response!
Have a great and safe new year!
Don
Due to the prevalence of firearms in the US, law enforcement is lot more dangerous then other similar countries. But the fact is that per capita, compared to other first world countries, the US fatality rate of civilians from an officer of the law is about 30 times. That’s fairly significant. There are many reasons (a large number of firearms in civilians hands is a major reason), training must also play a role. Maybe law enforcement needs to look to countries like UK, Ireland, Iceland & New Zealand, whose officers are mostly unarmed(!! Yes amazing to think) on how they deal with such situations. They send police officers to initially respond, followed by a small, well trained, number of armed officers if required.
Some stats (without the left bias)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_firearm_use_by_country
But it’d be interesting ti see compariable stats about number of deaths incident responded to.
“But the fact is that per capita, compared to other first world countries, the US fatality rate of civilians from an officer of the law is about 30 times. ”
Compared to other first world countries, America has 10% black population and similar number of Latinos. Stop comparing American crime statistics to white or east asian countries, because it makes no sense.
William Z, you are fortunate to work in a large agency in a large city, that can afford good training. Not every agency is so trained and well-screened, and is the #1 issue facing law enforcement today.
william, neither you nor the vast majority of police have ever been ambushed once while checking into a false alarm. almost every police department in the country, even those in large cities, go decades—decades—without a single on-duty murder of a leo. so quit trying to rationalize deadly mistakes with your paranoid fantasies of facing down terrorists, etc. actual soldiers fighting overseas show way more restraint, and many are critical of cops for not doing likewise. not buying it. calm down.
Donut eating morons ? Where have I heard that before about a million times ? Hmmm.
Well, we should all remind ourselves to read and re-read:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/instituteforjustice/2016/06/08/oklahoma-cops-can-now-seize-money-from-prepaid-debit-cards-without-filing-criminal-charges/#563aac7d6535
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kEpZWGgJks
over 10 million views
and finally:
In the majority of homicides in America, the victims are killed by people they know
But one-third of all Americans – – – – killed by strangers they don’t know – – – are killed by police
https://granta.com/violence-in-blue/
I rest my case.
I think the fact that you agree with most of what Krebs writes, but not this, should tell you something.
But, first, you totally mischaracterized what he wrote. He said nothing that could be construed as based on cop shows, just for one example. The plain fact is that too many cops — in the real world of real reality — are shooting too many people.
Finally, your capitalization of “Police” is odd, and a little creepy.
The requirement to be a cop in most states is a high school diploma or GED. You aren’t exactly the brightest bulbs in the box. As of shoot first, we have seen lately PLENTY of cases where cops simply say “i felt threatened” and kill someone, knowing damn well the possibility of charges is minimal (minneapolis, las vegas, and now this)
“but Police arent the donut eating morons” – yes they are, obviously.
“for those that think Police shoot first and ask questions later.. stop believing the media spin.” There is no media spin, guy got killed without question, because retarded person got the right to hold a fucking gun.
“Anyway, if you want to see a change, then make that change. Create a training for law enforcement, instead of acting like Police are dumb trigger happy idiots who aren’t smart enough to tell when a call is fake.” – Who are those who need to make changes? Police themselves need to do it, who the fuck are civilians like most of us to make changes!? You described them 100% correct – dumb trigger happy idiots who aren’t smart enough to tell when a call is fake. Totally fucking correct description of morons killing people in the name of law.
Dude,
Remember that time that some tool called in a false domestic violence/homicide/hostage situation in to the police as a joke? Remember how the trigger happy morons that responded to the scene shot the innocent resident of the home as he answered to door?
“Even when we feel a call is fake we still have to respond as if it was real, because many Police have been called to fake calls only to be ambushed. That is in the terrorist playbook.. create a mass incident, wait for emergency response, them use IEDs, etc.”
Are you, as a police officer ‘from a large agency’, advocating for any and all 911 calls to be treated like downtown Wichita was a war zone? Because you might run into ambushes, IEDs, whatnot?
Do you not see the fallacy in this?
Let me give you another page from the terrorist’s playbook that has played out literally hundreds of times all over AFG and IRQ, or PAK, or PHI: That page is titled “Sometimes, the bad guys wear uniforms”. Don’t just believe me, ask Mr. Krebs whether that page exists or no.
So, now what? Would you also argue for the law-abiding, well-prepared and firearm-proficient citizen in the US (who may possibly be a GWoT vet) to act according to ROEs from said war zones? No, you wouldn’t? Doesn’t seem like good advice any more all of a sudden? How come?
If anyone was bemoaning the hyper-militarization of US police forces, congratulations, good Sir! You just made their point.
As always, your insights are ‘spot on’ and welcome.
I suppose the people who get a charge out of ‘swatting’ have a similar psychological profile to fire-starters.
At a minimum, that means they are suffering from a mental illness and, if people or property are hurt as a result of their actions, they damn sure should be charged as felons.
Here’s a starting point:
http://kslegislature.org/li_2012/b2011_12/statute/021_000_0000_chapter/021_059_0000_article/021_059_0004_section/021_059_0004_k/
And yes, we are in Kansas… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_murder_rule_(Kansas)
So readers, continue your research from there to complete the article. The incomplete research in the article is at the point where “Analysis” section starts, which is really more of just personal ranting about “some states.” Perhaps after the new year, BK will look into Kansas and Wichita law to complete the article before letting his personal feelings as a legitimate victim interfere with his usually good reporting.
Agreed! I think BK does great reporting and stays neutral on most topics. His bias of the Police is off balance. I see he tried to stay neutral, but I feel like he rushed to conclusion that the Police are ill-trained.
As for the law on this, in most states if you commit a crime that results in the death of someone you can be charged for that death.. for example, two guys rob a bank with guns, one is killed by police.. the other can be charged for it. This is because they created the situation that caused this.
In this case, the guy who gave the bad address and the guy who SWAT’ed could both faced charges and I am sure that is coming. An innocent man is dead and an officer has to live with that, due to these idiots playing internet cowboys.
‘An innocent man is dead and an officer has to live with that, due to these idiots playing internet cowboys.’
A police officer, sworn to enforce the law, killed an innocent man. He gets to live with it, likely without any major penalty. While someone, who likely didn’t even do anything wrong, was killed in his own home. Yes, the ‘idiots playing internet cowboys’ should face felony charges over the death, but so should the officer.
I wouldn’t really call that section a rant. He didn’t look up the specific law for Kansas which is a case of incomplete research but you really make it look worse than it is. He’s right that in some states that creating a false report is a misdemeanor and in others it’s a felony. He’s also right that we tend to treat minors with kiddie gloves and that police need to be held more accountable and how to deescalate situations. These are all things that the general public would agree upon unless you happen to be a cop.
Dear William Z, you miss the whole point. Your Team might do great job, but that was not on this case. Making fake calls like this should have minium 16 years (like felany ?) If victim dies, then face call should be minium 25v as partaking murder. This is not a joke and this should be taken seriously.
You are right! Those false reporting or swatting must be felonies and we must be able to track them down to prosecute them. Getting kicks like this is so wrong and must be stopped. The many different ways they are endangering the public and first responders and wasting resources, the DOJ, FBI, and even the NSA should work together to solve and stop this scourge of depravity in our society. And anyone involved or not turning them in as well.
Thank you
Since you can spoof tel numbers via VOIP, how can it be stopped or reduced? Is there a tech solution?
My question is did this person even bother to VOIP given his Twitter activity. Much like POTUS, the tweets are evidence.
There is no technological way to PREVENT caller ID spoofing. This is because so many billions of legitimate calls transit VoIP Least Cost Routing providers.
The telecom industry is working on a way (called STIR) to verify real caller ID numbers on VoIP calls; but it is 1-3 years away, participation is voluntary, and it will only work on certain networks. This project will not be effective. I will be like locking two of the four doors to your house and thinking this will reduce your chance of being burglarized by 50%.
There is, however, an effective way to STOP this type of crime. You put the people who do it in jail. This will deter others.
Even though there is no way to distinguish between a VoIP call with illicit intent and a legitimate call at the moment the call is made, every single VoIP call can be traced back to its source.
The reason why these swatting calls happen–not to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars in tele-fraud–is because Police exert very little effort in investigating any crime that is not directly observed by a patrol officer.
Tom wrote “There is, however, an effective way to STOP this type of crime. You put the people who do it in jail. This will deter others.”
The USA has one of the highest per capita prison populations in the world. The war on drugs has been going on for decades without respite. Three strikes laws, draconian prison conditions, absurdly long sentences for minor and non-violent crimes. Toss in loss of voting rights, loss of college loans and many other penalties after they get out of prison.
Yet Americans still do drugs and still commit crimes.
No, I’m not saying there shouldn’t be penalties, even prison time, but to suggest tossing people in prison stops crime belies the facts. Yes, crime is going down in the US as incarceration rates go up, yet in most every other country crime is going down too, as incarceration rates go down.
It’s a little more complicated than just tossing people in prison, as the American justice system amply demonstrates.
As this reminds me very much of Lizard Squad given the actors twitter handle and the fact that he is repredenting ‘Drill Squad’ I imagine that he is not alone and other things similar to Lizard Squad could be present. Ddos, etc.
Dear William Z…while I certainly agree that police have a dangerous and difficult job most of us who think about the big picture of police actions today conclude that police are underfunded, undertrained, under equipped and in a great many cases under educated for the complex mix of human conditions they encounter.
In this case it appears that there is poor Swat training involved and poor training for 911 operators to try and verify the call while Swat is enroute. What Swat officer has the blank check to shoot without an order from the team leader? Where was the designated expert shooter covering the front door with a spotter communicating with the team lead? No shot should have been fired until the spotter saw a gun and alerted the team lead who then decides to respond or not. Where is the de-escalation training put to use first? Where is the attempt to call the number at that house if there is one? Did the 911 center call back the number that was displayed as the calling number to verify the number exists and call origination/location? The questions go on and on.
An innocent person is dead because a criminal called in a false report of serious crimes in progress. That person, in my opinion, is guilty of at least felony murder. In addition, the officer with the nervous trigger finger should be fired. S/he has no business in that role if this is how they react under training that should have told them to wait for the order.
Dear David G.,
Thank God that there are procedures that law enforcement can follow to ensure the safety of innocent civilian life!
If the SWAT team had a good reason to shoot, I’m sure that reason would have been stated immediately. Instead, we get, “what caused the officer to shoot the man. Police don’t think the man fired at officers, but the incident is still under investigation.” Of course the person who made the false call should be held criminally responsible but so should the cop if it turns out he was trigger-happy or botched.
If the police would, you know, get on a bullhorn telling everyone to come out with their hands up instead of, you know, blasting them when they open the door or take their armored vehicles, grenade launchers and various other military surplus to your door and you to blow everything to smithereens, innocent people would not be murdered by police that have had an IQ cap for over a decade and are easily fooled by swatters. And if, you know, the cops would call the residence in question to get a heads up on what’s going on instead of, you know, on a mission to kill because hostage situations are their wettest dreams and give them the hardest excuse to use grenades boners and license to kill hard-ons there would, you know, be less innocent and unarmed young fathers of two babies being murdered. Did I forget to mention police have had an IQ cap for over a decade? Trump’s response to this is preordained and he’s part of the swatting problem, Google search for TRUMP ENCOURAGES BRUTALITY. If you want to stop swatting you have to tell Trump to fuck himself and get your congressmen and congresswomen to tell him to go fuck himself.
If there’s an “IQ cap”, then you obviously qualify to be a cop. Probably a police chief!
You haven’t defined what YOU mean by an IQ cap.
Book-smart is not street-smart and people-smart, because those two cannot be tested by paper IQ tests, yet are very necessary for patrol officers. Book-smart is the investigators who have to tie together information from different patrol officers.
I’ve got some recordings of actual swat calls. I think I’ll edit out the names and addresses and post them online. I have hesitated to do that, afraid it might teach people how to swat. But they know how to swat anyway. This might teach police dispatchers what real swat calls sound like.
I personally have been swatted several times. I have given legal assistance to several others who were swatted. I think there needs to be a campaign on the seriousness of swatting.
If you read the tweets of this person, and they are still up on his new account, he seems like an unthinking teenager — which I assume he is.
> “A male came to the front door,” Livingston said. “As he came to the front door, one of our officers discharged his weapon.”
Swatting may be a problem – I dunno’, I very rarely come across these types of articles. But. Police response to most situations *are* the problem.
> “As a victim of my own swatting attack back in 2013…” … “I observed about a half-dozen other squad cars, lights flashing, and more officers pointing firearms in my direction, including a shotgun and a semi-automatic rifle.”
Once false move… one hard stare… you would not be here to write the article today.
Good thing you took precautions, good thing (I imagine) that you’re well-spoken IRL, dress well, probably live in a decent neighborhood. No offense but from your pic, you look as menacing as a girl scout. You even prepped the local force (and they still had a bunch of guns pointed at your head).
At some point, you need to look deeper into the ‘Swatting’ issue and admit that Police are the problem here. You were out on the street, unarmed, by yourself and intelligently ready for a confrontation that could go sour.
Even while on your knees, hands up and prepped for the worst… you still had a bunch of guns pointed at your head. Let that sink in.
Swatting doesn’t get fixed until we’re honest that cops are morons with guns. They enter the force as a bunch of wannabe thugs and trained to be aggressors who escalate any situation.
The only time I’ve ever seen cops behave in a decent manner have been in neighborhoods populated with the wealthy.
“The only time I’ve ever seen cops behave in a decent manner have been in neighborhoods populated with the wealthy.” How is it not obvious that police departments don’t have separate cops for wealthy neighborhoods? Be fair. Cop behavior varies depending on where they go. If they are not morons in wealthy neighborhoods, then also they aren’t in other neighborhoods. They should behave the same in all neighborhoods.
How tragic! 3 people equally responsible for 1 innocent life lost. The swatter, calling a fake emergency, triggered a police response. The intended swatty, providing the address used for the police to respond to. And the overly militarized police officer with the impulsive trigger finger, sending the bullet that took an innocent persons life. All 3 can pat themselves on the back for their role in this death.
What about the trigger happy cop who shot the Australian woman in Minneapolis. She was in her pyjamas reporting what she thought was a rape in the alley behind her house. The cop won’t even make a statement.
http://www.news.com.au/world/australian-woman-killed-by-us-police-in-minneapolis/news-story/8436a3e44ec239b49c5b5bc1aa927a1f
Here in Australia we are still waiting for answers.
I realize police frequent this website and if they don’t understand why there are expletatives they don’t know the outrage regarding this case is a normal reaction to a young unarmed innocent father of two being blasted for opening a door or getting blasted by military surplus explosives for fearing his life and not opening the door because of an instinct for self-preservation. The over a decade IQ cap on police and Trump encouraging police brutality in speeches to abolish the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law is exactly what the beyond evil dystopia society guilty until proven guilty of the Cardassians of Star Trek is like and we don’t need to emulate demons from outer space. I’m also given to explatives directed at law enforcement that allows children to gamble online and that does not punish parents whose children are gambling illegally, that UGW is not being shut down for being an illegal online casino for children when it’s regulated and illegal for adults and why the CEO of Activision isn’t being investigated for profiting from illegal online activities targeting minors and fostering a criminalistic online community in an illegal children’s casino. Pardon my four letter expletives and phallic symbol references, I’m not noting much awareness on the part of IQ capped police about exploitation of minors and corruption of minors in the gaming industry, who are turned into hellions outsmarting cops with an IQ cap and enough military surplus to blow people who are supposed to be presumed innocent until proved innocent in a court of law to kingdom come with the encouragement of Trump for brutality. If/when the illegal online casino for children that’s corrupting minors and fostering a criminalistic online community is shut down and Activision stops profiting from illegal activities then I would not be as ouraged but an innocent man being killed is enough reason and I’m only only human with empathy for his surviving children. Sue me, I’m a kind human being and not a heartless automaton no matter who has authority over me and I’ll be frank with everyone.
she was white and he was black, so you might actually get justice in that case. otherwise, look at all the cases where cops are never held accountable for killing innocents.
Here is an audio interview just conducted with the guy who made the call. Not a whole lot of regretto be heard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCHOI39nJPM
This is just unbelievably sad on every level. This person that did the swatting should be charged with murder, and the police officer who fired the shot should also be investigated and should also probably be charged. At least two families will be destroyed because of this person, and I would wholeheartedly support a sentence of life in prison for what he did.
Don’t forget to include the person that tweeted the victim’s address as his own, while daring to be swatted.
Troy.
#
Honestly i stopped reading at this:
“Compounding the tragedy is that the man killed was an innocent party who had no part in the dispute”
If the victim would had a part in a game dispute over the internet… It would have been less of a tragedy?
The actual events appear to have shifted the norm of what to expect.
Actually i did read the entire article.
Further down it says the victim didn’t even play games…. Oh come on. If he had played games he had what?… Known the risks of walking to his door?
The point is he wasn’t involved in the dispute.
https://i.imgur.com/DbbimDN.png
Assuming he is prosecuted in KS, we will totally charge kids as young as 14 as adults for manslaughter or murder charges.
This is a sick joke which just turned really bad.
You just don’t mess with this stuff, what happened with the old prank calls?
He started making $ form this like this was some sort of a game… I can’t believe people have to go thru this in the police force.
Am I missing something, or does this article dox the victim by posting an unobscured shot of the address?
Here of all places he should know better.
The Wichita Eagle story I quoted and linked to in the story gave his block and street number. The image was only confirmation of what was already reported.
“A story in the Wichita Eagle says officers responded the 1000 block of McCormick and got into position, preparing for a hostage situation.”
F. the Po Po.
Adults sometimes lose children, jokes are cruel
Wow, it is truly amazing how many people commenting who have zero idea, experience, or training in law enforcement, but are willing to state unequivocally what exactly happened during the swatting encounter, whose fault it is, what orders were given or not, how much experience and training the particular officer had and are willing and adamant to share their opinions as fact. Get a grip people, you have been watching far too many movies and eating up everything the mass hysterical media puts out.
Perhaps we could just wait until the investigation is complete, rather than speculate nonsense?
Two thumbs up for this comment, plus two big toes too.
Investigate? Why bother. It’s the victims fault. It’s always the same. Why waste time investigating.
Problem is, most of us watched the police press update from yesterday (29th), heard the 911 call, saw the vest camera recording of the incident and looked at various sites to include an interview with the “swatter” as well as reading and watching the video of the family’s account as to what occurred. Instead of accusing people of “rushing” to judgement, maybe you should watch and read up on the events and see that Mr. Finch opened the door, an officer yelled at him to come out and as he was exiting, he was shot. No sudden movements, no threatening movements, NOTHING. That is unequivocally murder. The guy who started the whole thing by posting a fraudulent address as being his own, the other guy who paid the “Swatter” to do this, the “swatter” and the cop who shot Mr. Finch are all guilty of murder. It doesn’t start and end with one or two people, there are multiple people involved and responsible for the death of an innocent man who has left behind two young children to be cared for by other family members.
I would also like to point out that the dispatcher asked the “swatter” if he was in a two story or single story home, he replied it was one story, the house that they surrounded and shot an innocent man in front of was a two story. At that point, that one detail could possibly have given them pause and to reason out that this could have been a fraudulent call and to be much more cautious because details were not adding up.
The report I read stated that the guy who answered the door, ignored the officers request to show his hands and instead reached for his waistband. I have not seen any video of the incident, didn’t know that it was out.
Krebs,
Have you asked Twitter what they are doing to prevent swatters from operating on their platform? It appears that GoredTutor36 has been able to freely boast about his swatting activities on that platform.
You’ve previously asked Twitter what actions that they’ve taken to combat pro-Trump bots that you’ve found troublesome. I’m wondering why there is little outcry with respect to cybercriminals engaging in swatting who do not appear to be policed on Twitter as strongly as other actors.
I haven’t asked, but I suspect his account won’t be active for much longer. Perhaps they are just giving him a little more rope.