After “swatting” death in Kansas, 25-year old arrested in Los Angeles

[Jim K Global Moderator]

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The alleged "swatter" behind Thursday's police killing of a Wichita, Kansas, man has been arrested.

 

Tyler Barriss, a 25-year old from South Los Angeles, was taken into custody Friday night, according to the local ABC News affiliate. (ABC also notes that "Glendale police arrested a 22-year-old man with the same name for making bomb threats to KABC-TV" back in 2015.) NBC News, speaking to unnamed local "sources" in LA, says that Barriss "had been living at a transitional recovery center."

 

Barriss is alleged to have a called in a lengthy threat to Wichita police on Thursday night after a Call of Duty game in which two teammates got into an altercation over a $1.50 wager. Screenshots posted to various Twitter accounts show the dispute escalating. Shortly thereafter, the Wichita police received a call alleging that someone at that address had killed his father, taken his family hostage, poured gasoline around the home, and was ready to light it on fire. Cops descended on the area and cordoned it off. When 28-year old Andrew Fitch opened the front door of his home to see why all the lights were flashing outside, he was shot and killed.

 

//snip

Full article at ArsTechnica

 

 

 

Original article about the shooting.

 

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Man dies after being shot by Wichita officer investigating possible homicide

 

A 28-year-old man is dead after being shot by a Wichita police officer who was investigating a call of a possible homicide and hostage situation at the corner of Seneca and McCormick on Thursday night.

 

Deputy Police Chief Troy Livingston said police received a called of a shooting at around 6:15 p.m.

 

“It was a shooting call involving hostages,” he said. “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.”

 

Officers went to the 1000 block of McCormick, preparing for a hostage situation, he said.

 

“A male came to the front door, as he came to the front door, one of our officers discharged his weapon,” Livingston said.

 

Livingston didn’t say if the man was carrying a weapon when he came to the door, or what caused the officer to shoot the man. Police don’t think he fired at officers, but the incident is still under investigation, he said.

The injured man was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

 

The officer, a 7-year veteran of the police department, will be placed on paid administrative leave, per department policy.

 

//snip

Full article at The Wichita Eagle

 

A lot of heads need to roll on this one (the "prankster" and the Wichita Police Department).  Though, you knew it was only a matter of time before "swatting" led to someone's death.  

[macrosslover]

Here is a video link to the body cam footage they released.  If there is a better version out there post it, because this site was giving me some issues loading.  Looking at this video it appears he dropped his hands, said something, and then made a motion like he was aiming a gun.  Clearly he must have thought it was all a joke, unfortunately for him.  I feel bad for his mother.  All of this over a damn COD match and a $1.50 bet, give me a break.

Sorry saw it was already in one of those previous links.

Edited December 30, 2017 by macrosslover

[PGHammer]

Such pranks are - more likely than not - a spinoff of 911 calls from cellular phones; unlike landlines, there is no boundarization as to area codes issued to cell phones (which makes sense with national carriers - such as T-Mobile).  I await tehh detailed analysis of where (and what device) the call was from.

[trag3dy]

16 minutes ago, PGHammer said:

Such pranks are - more likely than not - a spinoff of 911 calls from cellular phones; unlike landlines, there is no boundarization as to area codes issued to cell phones (which makes sense with national carriers - such as T-Mobile).  I await tehh detailed analysis of where (and what device) the call was from.

The title of the thread has your answer.

[uniacidz]

Such a unfortunate tragedy

If police outside, follow directions.

RIP

[Noir Angel]

I never fail to be amazed by the utter professionalism of American cops and the generally prevailing societal attitude of "any vague movement made is an excuse to paint the wall with your brains". Guess this is what happens when you mix a society that glorifies violence with one which encourages people to act like brats when they don't get their own way.

[trag3dy]

8 minutes ago, Javik said:

I never fail to be amazed by the utter professionalism of American cops and the generally prevailing societal attitude of "any vague movement made is an excuse to paint the wall with your brains". Guess this is what happens when you mix a society that glorifies violence with one which encourages people to act like brats when they don't get their own way.

Completely dismissing the fact that the police were told there was a hostage situation and that there was gasoline on, in, and around the house ready to be lit on fire and that someone had already been killed.

 

I don't fully agree with the shoot first ask questions later mentality but let's put the blame where it belong's here. Not with the police but with the two brats who created the situation in the first place, over Call of Duty and $1.50 of all things.

 

And glorifying violence? What is that even supposed to mean in this context?

[adrynalyne]

6 minutes ago, trag3dy said:

Completely dismissing the fact that the police were told there was a hostage situation and that there was gasoline on, in, and around the house ready to be lit on fire and that someone had already been killed.

 

I don't fully agree with the shoot first ask questions later mentality but let's put the blame where it belong's here. Not with the police but with the two brats who created the situation in the first place, over Call of Duty and $1.50 of all things.

 

And glorifying violence? What is that even supposed to mean in this context?

Don’t feed him. 

[+Warwagon MVC]

Interview with the idiot who made the swatting call.

 

 

[alpha2beta]

42 minutes ago, Javik said:

I never fail to be amazed by the utter professionalism of American cops and the generally prevailing societal attitude of "any vague movement made is an excuse to paint the wall with your brains". Guess this is what happens when you mix a society that glorifies violence with one which encourages people to act like brats when they don't get their own way.

Just think, this is police policy and this is a huge problem with police departments today, it's all about shoot 1st. Policy needs to change.

[LaP]

2 hours ago, uniacidz said:

Such a unfortunate tragedy

If police outside, follow directions.

RIP

It's easier said than done. When someone is confused it's easy to move your hands without even notice. When i was younger (20) and playing Diablo in my parent's basement at 4AM while my parents were away someone called the cop and said there was someone stealing in our house. Cops came and they were watching in the windows with their touches. I did not know what was going on so i opened to door to go look who was doing that. The cops did not ask me to raise my hands they just asked me if i was living there. I answered yes and then they asked if they could check the house and i said yes. But to be honest had they asked me to raise my hands i would have probably not raised them or i would have done some strange gestures with my hands. I'm the type of guy who use his hands a lot while talking. I'm very expressive with my body it's something natural i do without even noticing it. It was dark, i had torches directed right into my eyes and i would have more than likely been too confused to obey right away or not do some suspect moves with my hands.

[branfont]

On 30/12/2017 at 3:27 PM, warwagon said:

Interview with the idiot who made the swatting call.

 

 

 

Here is a little more, from KrebsonSecurity:

 

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/12/kansas-man-killed-in-swatting-attack/

[techbeck]

People who call in these fake reports should be put up an as example.  And if anyone gets killed because of it, they  should be charged with murder.  It not only costs people their lives, but also wastes resources and money better spent on real issues.

[DocM]

^^^^ ...what he said. Total slimes.

[theyarecomingforyou]

On 30/12/2017 at 9:57 PM, trag3dy said:

Completely dismissing the fact that the police were told there was a hostage situation and that there was gasoline on, in, and around the house ready to be lit on fire and that someone had already been killed.

 

I don't fully agree with the shoot first ask questions later mentality but let's put the blame where it belong's here. Not with the police but with the two brats who created the situation in the first place, over Call of Duty and $1.50 of all things.

 

And glorifying violence? What is that even supposed to mean in this context?

Police are supposed to assess the situation and determine the risk to life. They completely failed in their duty to protect the public, opting for a shoot-first-ask-questions-later approach. You don't see this sort of thing happen in other developed countries. It's a serious cultural issue specific to the US.

[adrynalyne]

15 minutes ago, theyarecomingforyou said:

Police are supposed to assess the situation and determine the risk to life. They completely failed in their duty to protect the public, opting for a shoot-first-ask-questions-later approach. You don't see this sort of thing happen in other developed countries. It's a serious cultural issue specific to the US.

Only in the US eh? I decided to look at your post and see if you were worthy of unblocking. Nope.

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-26/nsw-police-shoot-man-dead-at-sydney-central-station/8746762

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-30/man-shot-and-killed-in-bathurst-following-police-confrontation/8857700

Australia must not be developed.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-shootings-fatal-12-year-high-england-wales-armed-officers-units-independent-police-complaints-a7858671.html

England and Wales must not be developed.

 

I could go on and on, but whats the point, we already know where your bias stands and how much tunnel vision you have when it comes to wrongdoings in the US.

 

Edited January 6, 2018 by adrynalyne

[techbeck]

58 minutes ago, theyarecomingforyou said:

Police are supposed to assess the situation and determine the risk to life. They completely failed in their duty to protect the public, opting for a shoot-first-ask-questions-later approach. You don't see this sort of thing happen in other developed countries. It's a serious cultural issue specific to the US.

Not a cop issue at all.  It was the idiot who swatted the other.   If the person was not swatted, never would have died.  People think this is funny and a good prank.  But costs lives and waste of resources.

[theyarecomingforyou]

2 hours ago, adrynalyne said:

Only in the US eh? I decided to look at your post and see if you were worthy of unblocking. Nope.

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-26/nsw-police-shoot-man-dead-at-sydney-central-station/8746762

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-30/man-shot-and-killed-in-bathurst-following-police-confrontation/8857700

Australia must not be developed.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-shootings-fatal-12-year-high-england-wales-armed-officers-units-independent-police-complaints-a7858671.html

England and Wales must not be developed.

 

I could go on and on, but whats the point, we already know where your bias stands and how much tunnel vision you have when it comes to wrongdoings in the US.

False equivalence. Those articles relate to armed confrontations, not a situation like this where the suspect was unarmed and innocent. Time and time again we see police in the US murderering innocent civilians and getting away with it - few ever face prosecution for doing so. You've found a few isolated cases occurring outside of the US, meanwhile US police killed 987 people in 2017. The UK had 6 fatal shootings - all six have had investigations launched, with three clearing the officers involved and three ongoing. They aren't just checkbox activities like in the US.

 

The point is that every police shooting in the UK is taken seriously. In the US it's just routine, with officers back on the streets killing more suspects within next to no time. Even factoring in the population difference the US would only be expected to have 30 fatal shootings based on UK levels. You can't just disregard the fact the US police fatality rate is 3,300% higher than the UK. As I said, there is a serious cultural issue affecting US police shootings.

[FloatingFatMan]

13 hours ago, theyarecomingforyou said:

You can't just disregard the fact the US police fatality rate is 3,300% higher than the UK. As I said, there is a serious cultural issue affecting US police shootings

Pretty much what I've always said as well.  It's a bad mix of aggression based training plus the US gun culture that causes all these fatal shootings.

[trag3dy]

5 hours ago, FloatingFatMan said:

Pretty much what I've always said as well.  It's a bad mix of aggression based training plus the US gun culture that causes all these fatal shootings.

Two idiot who thought they were above consequences caused this shooting. No one else and especially not the all encompassing "gun culture" you guys like to talk about.

Edited January 7, 2018 by trag3dy

[FloatingFatMan]

16 minutes ago, trag3dy said:

Two idiot who thought they were above consequences caused this shooting. No one else and especially not the all encompassing "gun culture" you guys like to talk about.

They were the ultimate causes of it, sure; no one is disputing that. But the cops also didn't have to open fire as soon as the door was opened. I'm not saying the cops involved should be charged with anything either. I'm just saying the cops were too quick to respond with deadly force.

[Emn1ty]

4 hours ago, FloatingFatMan said:

They were the ultimate causes of it, sure; no one is disputing that. But the cops also didn't have to open fire as soon as the door was opened. I'm not saying the cops involved should be charged with anything either. I'm just saying the cops were too quick to respond with deadly force.

And how would UK police respond to a call with the same description? A man who already shot and killed one person, was holding a family hostage in a house rigged to burn to the ground with gasoline?

 

I expect they'd call this armed police and be ready to end the threat just as quickly.

 

That being said, is say swatting is something any police force would have a difficult time with and is asking for mistakes. Honestly I'm surprised more swatting calls haven't resulted in death (throws the idea that cops are trigger happy out the window).

 

But what bothers me more is people are willing to use this situation which was clearly caused by those kids and use it as a scapegoat to attack "gun culture". Something that honestly had little to nothing to do with this situation.

[FloatingFatMan]

7 hours ago, Emn1ty said:

And how would UK police respond to a call with the same description? A man who already shot and killed one person, was holding a family hostage in a house rigged to burn to the ground with gasoline?

 

I expect they'd call this armed police and be ready to end the threat just as quickly.

There's at least a 90% chance the person opening the door would still be alive. Our armed police training is completely different to yours, with an emphasis on capture not death.

 

Quote

That being said, is say swatting is something any police force would have a difficult time with and is asking for mistakes. Honestly I'm surprised more swatting calls haven't resulted in death (throws the idea that cops are trigger happy out the window).

This I agree with, at least in part. I think the level of trigger happiness is an overblown proportion to the perceived threat, and the caller in this case did everything he could to maximize that perceived threat and make sure the responding cops were already in a "kill on sight" mood.

 

He should be charged with murder.

Quote

But what bothers me more is people are willing to use this situation which was clearly caused by those kids and use it as a scapegoat to attack "gun culture". Something that honestly had little to nothing to do with this situation.

It's not an "attack" to point the finger where the reason actually lies, it's the truth.  If the US didn't have such a "Yeehaaaw!!" culture throughout its very pores, you wouldn't have such a large problem with stuff like that.  If you don't like that, then it's time to do something about it.  You folks need to accept the reality that NO other western nations with normally armed police and legal access to guns for the citizenry has anything even close to the US's level of police killings OR armed crime, not even when adjusted for population percentage.

[Emn1ty]

48 minutes ago, FloatingFatMan said:

There's at least a 90% chance the person opening the door would still be alive. Our armed police training is completely different to yours, with an emphasis on capture not death.

 

This I agree with, at least in part. I think the level of trigger happiness is an overblown proportion to the perceived threat, and the caller in this case did everything he could to maximize that perceived threat and make sure the responding cops were already in a "kill on sight" mood.

 

He should be charged with murder.

You can't possibly back that up. But lets take a look at the numbers here.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatting

Lists, at minimum, 145 swatting incidents in the US. And of those incidents, only two people have been reported to have been shot, only one of which was killed. That means you're 0.6% likely to get killed in a "swatting" in the US, and it's likely lower because the exact number of swatting incidents isn't always disclosed, phrases used such as "at least" or "a number of".

48 minutes ago, FloatingFatMan said:

It's not an "attack" to point the finger where the reason actually lies, it's the truth.  If the US didn't have such a "Yeehaaaw!!" culture throughout its very pores, you wouldn't have such a large problem with stuff like that.  If you don't like that, then it's time to do something about it.  You folks need to accept the reality that NO other western nations with normally armed police and legal access to guns for the citizenry has anything even close to the US's level of police killings OR armed crime, not even when adjusted for population percentage.

Except you yourself just illustrated the reason why this isn't about gun culture, but about the actions of those kids:

Quote

the caller in this case did everything he could to maximize that perceived threat and make sure the responding cops were already in a "kill on sight" mood.

This is an action not taken by the police, and has no bearing on them being trigger happy or not.

[Skiver Veteran]

On 30/12/2017 at 7:59 PM, macrosslover said:

Here is a video link to the body cam footage they released.  If there is a better version out there post it, because this site was giving me some issues loading.  Looking at this video it appears he dropped his hands, said something, and then made a motion like he was aiming a gun.  Clearly he must have thought it was all a joke, unfortunately for him.  I feel bad for his mother.  All of this over a damn COD match and a $1.50 bet, give me a break.

Sorry saw it was already in one of those previous links.

Why would he think it was a joke? You are aware that the person that is shot and killed in all of this had ZERO to do with the CoD crap? The person who this "swat" was intended for, gave a fake address.

 

Feel bad for his wife, his kids and every other family member of this purely innocent man.