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Tyler Barriss at a preliminary hearing in May 2018 for the "swatting" death of Andrew Finch in late December of 2017.
Bo Rader / The Wichita Eagle via Getty Images
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Bo Rader / The Wichita Eagle via Getty Images
Tyler Barriss at a preliminary hearing in May 2018 for the "swatting" death of Andrew Finch in late December of 2017.
Bo Rader / The Wichita Eagle via Getty Images
Tyler Barriss, 26, pleaded guilty on the death of a dead man in prison.
Barriss pleaded guilty to a total of 51 charges as part of a plea deal. He will be sentenced in January, The Associated Press reports.
Prosecuting US Attorney Stephen McAllister told The Wichita Eagle he will recommend that he be sentenced to 20 years in prison, providing he writes apology letters to police, dispatchers and the family of Andrew Finch, to a 28-year-old father of two who was shot by police who responded to the hoax call in December.
The call to death is an instance known as "swatting" – making a false report of an ongoing crime so serious that a SWAT team or a large group of officers shows up.
Barriss was charged with the federal crime of making threats in the phone calls to the FBI headquarters and the Federal Communications Commission. He falsely reported bombs at high schools, universities, shopping malls, and television stations.
"He called from Los Angeles to emergency numbers in Ohio, New Hampshire, Nevada, Massachusetts, Illinois, Utah, Virginia, Texas, Arizona, Missouri, Maine, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, New York, Michigan, Florida and Canada," according to the AP.
In the case of Finch, Barriss put on a claim that he had shot his father and was holding other related hostages in a home in Wichita. In reality, Barriss located the call from California.
As NPR has reported, "Finch appeared at the door to the house and, following verbal commands from the officers," he said, "At numerous points, however, he reached for his waistband. , an officer discharged one round, "killing him.
As to why Barriss made the call, the AP it is from Shane Gaskill, 20, of Wichita and Casey Viner, 18, of North College Hill, Ohio, while playing Call of Duty, online multiplayer video game.
After losing a bet reportedly worth $ 1.50, Viner asked Barriss to swat Gaskill, using an address Gaskill had given to him in the past that actually belonged to Finch.
Viner and Gaskill have been implicated with conspiracy to obstruct justice, wire fraud and other counts. Both have pleaded not guilty. Their trial is scheduled for early next year.
"Without ever stepping foot in Wichita," said McAllister said in a statement.
The police officer who shot Finch did not face charges.
"What gives the cops the right to open fire?" the victim's mother, Lisa Finch, said in January. "That cop murdered my son over a false report."
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