Last December, 28-year-old Andrew Finch of Wichita, Kansas was shot and killed by police responding to false reports of a hostage situation at a local home. Tyler Barriss, of Los Angeles, was arrested by Kansas state authorities for allegedly making the prank call which led to Finch’s death. Now, two additional men have been charged in the incident.
Shane Gaskill and Casey Viner, along with Barriss, now face federal charges for their alleged role in the swatting call. Viner is charged with “wire fraud, conspiracy to make false/hoax reports, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.” Gaskill is faced with “obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and wire fraud.” The new federal charges leveled at Barriss are “making false/hoax reports to emergency services, cyberstalking, making interstate threats, making interstate threats to harm by fire, wire fraud and conspiracy to make false/hoax reports.”
Those charges all present significant punishments. The harshest, for making false reports to emergency services or cyberstalking which results in someone’s death, present a maximum penalty of life in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
Swatting has been an unfornately common practice - just recently, 12-year-old Fortnite player was swatted - but this is believed to be the first death related to the practice.
Prosecutors allege that this swatting prank stems from an argument between Viner and Gaskill during a Call of Duty match. “Viner later asked Barriss to ‘swat’ Gaskill at an address provided by Gaskill. Viner did not know that the address Gaskill provided ...
from PCGamesN https://ift.tt/2krOPRy
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