A California man was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison for making bogus emergency calls to authorities across the U.S., including one that led police to fatally shoot a Kansas man following a dispute between two online players over $1.50 bet in the 'Call of Duty: WWII' video game.
In this May 22, 2018, file photo, Tyler Barriss, of California, appears for a preliminary hearing in Wichita, Kan. Barriss, who pleaded guilty to 51 charges related to fake emergency calls and threats. WICHITA, Kan. -- A California man was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison for making bogus emergency calls to authorities across the U.S., including one that led police to fatally shoot a Kansas man following a dispute between two online players over $1.
The 2017 death of 28-year-old Andrew Finch drew national attention to the practice of "swatting," a form of retaliation in which someone reports a false emergency to get authorities, particularly a SWAT team, to descend on an address. Authorities say an Ohio gamer recruited Barriss to "swat" a Wichita gamer, but that the address they used was old, leading police to Finch, who was not involved in the video game or the dispute.
Barriss' prosecution in Wichita consolidated other federal cases that had initially been filed against him in California and the District of Columbia involving similar calls and threats he made. Prosecutors had asked for a 25-year sentence , while the defence had sought a 20-year term. The intended target in Wichita, Shane Gaskill, 20, and the man who allegedly recruited Barriss, Casey Viner, 19, of North College Hill, Ohio, are charged as co-conspirators. Authorities say Viner provided Barriss with an address for Gaskill that Gaskill had previously given to Viner. Authorities also say that when Gaskill noticed Barriss was following him on Twitter, he gave Barriss that old address and taunted him to "try something.
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