Man behind ‘Call of Duty’ fatal ‘swatting’ incident sentenced to 20 years

[Axxil]

If anyone is saying that his sentence was too harsh, remember that his fake call 1. resulted in the death of someone and 2. waste a ton of taxpayer money on the people who responded to the call, the death and then the legal proceedings. This should be at least murder 2.

[Zelk]

I'm assuming the cop got an even longer sentence?

[Endus]

20 years for reporting a false crime? He did not kill anyone, the swat team did. They should get 20 years.

51 counts. Seems you skipped that part. This wasn't over one call.

Also, does hiring a contract killer not make you an accessory to his crime? Same difference here.

[Triggered Fridgekin]

Replying to add you as well. I'm anti- US police since they're too trigger happy but it was a SWAT team. They go in knowing full well their situations involve "shoot on sight since bad juju will go down if not".

I'd like to see a source cited for how many deaths occur for every arrest made by SWAT. It's not that I don't believe you and I do realize that they are used for situations which exceed usual measures but calling in SWAT doesn't mean calling in a death squad to resolve a situation. They aren't called Special Weapons and Tactics if all they do is got at it like a neanderthal and kill everyone. We've seen swatting happen in real time on streams and in those cases it's typically no-knock but with restraint.

If anything, these guys should be held to a higher standard when they are mistaken and go off of flaky information.

[Linkedblade]

Personally think 20 years is way too long, but he deserved punishment (couple of years would be fine).

The real issue is police who go in guns blazing like they are playing call of duty in real life without evaluating the situation first. They are more deserving of harsher punishment than the guy making the calls IMHO.

Did you miss the part where he was charged with doing this over 50 times?

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20 years for reporting a false crime? He did not kill anyone, the swat team did. They should get 20 years.

20 years for reporting over 50 false crimes

[Spiel]

The prank call is bad, but not 20y in prison bad. Im much more concerned about the swat team that takes a random call (from a known number, or did they not know already?) and goes in and, shoots first, asks later.

I think the guy who called should get a big fine for resource wasting, plus some kind of domicile arrest, with community service. And the trigger happy guys an investigation followed by suspension/arrest or something of sorts.

[Linkedblade]

Realistically, it isn't an either/or situation.

This guy tried, and succeeded, in killing his chosen target. He's lucky to be getting off as lightly as he is.

The cop(s) who shot his target should also be charged, unless their body cams show that their target appeared to be armed and threatening. No body cams? Then they can't prove there was something which could appear to be a threat, go to fucking jail, you murderers.

They committed homicide. To escape a charge of murder in the 2nd degree (they meant to shoot the guy when they pulled that trigger, it wasn't an accident), they can make a plea of self defense or imminent threat, but those claims need to have positive proof. You need to have evidence that proves you were justified. If not? Prison, you murderer. Should apply to every case where an officer kills someone.

And if the body cams don't back your perception, yeah, you deserve that prison sentence, you psycho.

I agree, at the very least, to try the person that pulled the trigger. If they find the cop innocent or guilty, at least they will have their day in court.

[Exeris]

He knew the consequences of his actions, now he can live with them. Hopefully this will deter others from swatting.

[Endus]

I agree, at the very least, to try the person that pulled the trigger. If they find the cop innocent or guilty, at least they will have their day in court.

I mean, I'll emphasize that I said "charged", not "convict". I'm not presuming guilt. I just find it shocking that police officers seem to get a pass on killing people, in the USA.

If there's evidence that clearly exonerates the officer and makes it not worth bringing charges, make that shit public.

[Lochton]

I don't know not often but I am a little on the fence about this, no doubt he deserves the prison time, I do some how question if the charges are appropriate. However to be totally honest I am not surprised by any of this.

How do you weight in if you were on the jury based on the evidence and circumstances?

Tyler R. Barriss, 26, He could be out by 33 or spend or serve his entire sentence until he is 46.

Good news but still too late. He's the reason of the death of one. The punishment is what is needed, should be stricter. Swatting people for the giggles should be one of the highest punishments for you are wasting resources and bringing people in danger.

If I was on the jury, then this would be in the same category as running down a person with a car, killing them.

[Valeron]

20 years is the minimum that he should have been sentenced for. The cop that shot the victim should have also been prosecuted but cops seem to be overly protected here.

[cparle87]

Realistically, it isn't an either/or situation.

This guy tried, and succeeded, in killing his chosen target. He's lucky to be getting off as lightly as he is.

The cop(s) who shot his target should also be charged, unless their body cams show that their target appeared to be armed and threatening. No body cams? Then they can't prove there was something which could appear to be a threat, go to fucking jail, you murderers.

They committed homicide. To escape a charge of murder in the 2nd degree (they meant to shoot the guy when they pulled that trigger, it wasn't an accident), they can make a plea of self defense or imminent threat, but those claims need to have positive proof. You need to have evidence that proves you were justified. If not? Prison, you murderer. Should apply to every case where an officer kills someone.

And if the body cams don't back your perception, yeah, you deserve that prison sentence, you psycho.

Glad to know innocent until proven guilty is alive and well in the mind of Endus.

Also, since you and several others seem to have missed this very important detail. It wasn't run of the mill cops who were called. It was motherfucking SWAT. Hostage situations, armed gunmen, barricades and booby traps. It is their JOB to go guns in blazing because, if the system is not being manipulated by an asswipe, they are only called in on situations that are a step or two below calling in the Army or the National Guard.

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I mean, I'll emphasize that I said "charged", not "convict". I'm not presuming guilt. I just find it shocking that police officers seem to get a pass on killing people, in the USA.

If there's evidence that clearly exonerates the officer and makes it not worth bringing charges, make that shit public.

You're not presuming guilt, but you're presuming that there's sufficient evidence to even bring charges. As someone who has sat on grand juries, we're told in a majority of cases courts don't even find enough evidence to bring charges, let along even think of beginning a trial.

Here's the steps.
Believe a crime has been committed >>> find sufficient evidence of convince a DA a crime has been committed... the situation has failed to even reach this step. The following steps would be bringing charges, having the officer details, and all that other rag. You're talking about being upset that the cops aren't being punished, when under the legal system we're not even getting to the point of even being able to claim they committed a crime.

[ohiostate124]

Good. I hope he doesnt get out early.

[Linkedblade]

Well, why do you sue him after reporting 50 crimes? You let that number go up by letting him do that for long. This is all the authorities fault.

You know how easy it is to fake calls. And he was doing it all over the country

[Endus]

Glad to know innocent until proven guilty is alive and well in the mind of Endus.

Nothing I said remotely indicates that.

Also, since you and several others seem to have missed this very important detail. It wasn't run of the mill cops who were called. It was motherfucking SWAT. Hostage situations, armed gunmen, barricades and booby traps. It is their JOB to go guns in blazing because, if the system is not being manipulated by an asswipe, they are only called in on situations that are a step or two below calling in the Army or the National Guard.

Yeah, I don't hand-wave away homicides just because it was SWAT. They don't have a free licence to kill. That's ludicrous.

You're not presuming guilt, but you're presuming that there's sufficient evidence to even bring charges.

Are you claiming there isn't any evidence that it was the SWAT officers that shot and killed this guy? Seriously?

That is the evidence. If they want to claim the shooting was justified, that's a positive defence; they need to be able to prove that, to the court's satisfaction. If they can't, it's murder.

The guy is dead. A SWAT officer shot him. Unless there is SUPER CLEAR EVIDENCE that the shooting was justified in the heat of that moment by the particulars of the guy's actions, the evidence requires prosecution as murder.

[tumppu]

I'm just baffled that they let him run loose for long enough to rack up dozens of false reported crimes. I'll assume he did those anonymously and from public or otherwise non-personal phones or computers. He deserves to sit the entirety of those 20 years.

OTOH, cops in the us should be reigned in somewhat, because in a civilized country, you'd assume a cop shooting an unarmed person would be under severe scrutiny. Swat or not.

[Krawu]

I agree in that they should throw the book at him for every single one of these calls that he's made. But he is not responsible for shooting the guy.
That was a lack of professionalism by the responding officer that pulled the trigger. It doesn't matter why they were there, fake emergency call or no. They still shot an unarmed dude answering his door. What if there really is a guy holding a hostage and he sends one of his hostages to open it? They would've shot said hostage.

[I Push Buttons]

The prank call is bad, but not 20y in prison bad. Im much more concerned about the swat team that takes a random call (from a known number, or did they not know already?) and goes in and, shoots first, asks later.

I think the guy who called should get a big fine for resource wasting, plus some kind of domicile arrest, with community service. And the trigger happy guys an investigation followed by suspension/arrest or something of sorts.

The guy who got convicted regularly did this, in addition to a myriad other crimes (he made over 30 bomb threats across the country).

The police didn't go in shooting first and asking questions later, they didn't go in at all with regard to the guy who was shot. The guy who was convicted spoofed his number and called the city hall in the city where the shooting took place, the city hall then transferred his call to 911 dispatchers... The call being passed through city hall made it appear the call originated from within their own city, so they had no cause to doubt its authenticity. He told the dispatchers that he was armed and already killed someone, he was going to kill more people in the house, burn the house down, and gave them the guy who was shot's address.

So the police showed up at the address assuming there was an armed psychotic murderer inside with hostages, they surrounded the residence and got set up. The guy who was shot heard them getting situated and went outside to see what was happening. They shined a spotlight on him and told him to put his hands up. He started to put his hands up, but then stopped and started lowering his arms while yelling at them, one of the officers then shot him.

They had who they presumed, once again, was an armed psychotic murderer standing in front of them refusing to obey lawful commands; with hostages inside presently out of harm's way. The police were justified in the shooting given the context.

This isn't just a 'prank call', the police were a weapon in this regard and this guy loaded that weapon and fired it at someone, killing them. He did it all the time, his gaming handle was literally 'Swautistic' and he was known as the guy you went to if you wanted to pay to have someone swatted.

[Azadina]

Considering he's done it dozens of times, he should have simply received life sentence as an example to other idiots like him.

[prwraith]

Worthless human. Sentence is the deserved one.