Slashdot Mirror
Swatting 19-Year-Old Arrested in Las Vegas
Ars Technica reports that a Las Vegas teenager is in custody for multiple instances of swatting:
Brandon Wilson, who goes by the online handle "Famed God," was arrested Thursday in Nevada and faces an extradition hearing to determine whether he should be sent to face hacking and other charges. Illinois prosecutors said there was evidence on his computers about the July 10 swatting incident, in which he allegedly reported a murder to Naperville's emergency 911 line. The SWAT team responded, but the call was a hoax. The Chicago-Sun Times said that, in addition to the Naperville incident, the suspect's computers held evidence "of similar incidents across the country."
Up to 5 years? That's it?
My feeling on the subject is that deliberately making a false report to generate an armed SWAT response should be charged and prosecuted as premeditated murder. The same as if they went and shot the people themselves. And if there's a miracle and the officers realize the report is false before someone is shot, it should still be charged and prosecuted as attempted murder, as if the person making the report attempted to kill someone themselves. Intentionally using the police as a weapon is no different than killing someone yourself. I would like to see them get the death penalty in these cases.
Don't care about the hacking, but he should be tortured for swatting.
No kidding. People could die from that. The days of the police sauntering in gun holstered saying "'ello 'ello what's all this then?" are flat gone, if they ever existed. If someone is bursting into your home with guns pointed, things can get lethal very quickly. Regardless of whether any crime was committed.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
1. Over half of police killed by firearms WERE wearing body armor. It's not like the ancient stuff that provides whole body protection, you have a front piece and a back piece that protects your chest. A hit to the head, or in from the side, and you're still possibly dead.
2. Police body armor is drastically lighter than the stuff I wore. A rifle round will generally go right through them, as will a shotgun slug* at close enough range.
Damn straight. This reminds me of a police action in Portland, OR, they entered a house and the guy had a high-power rifle with armor-piercing bullets. One female office was killed outright, one shot just above her kevlar vest, one just below. Another female office was shot twice, they went through her vest, but she survived after surgery. It was a mess. I remember it so well because the police chief was livid about the news helicopter coverage. Apparently the guy was watching the news and knew exactly where the officers were around his house and where they were entering.
When I was in the Army in the '90's we were told our body armor was really only effective against shrapnel. Don't get hit by that big 7.62 AK round!
Around my parts, they deployed the SWAT team because some drunk guy skipped out on a $50 taxi fare. *sigh* People argue it was justified because he later had a pellet gun, but they tend to forget that the pellet gun came to light after the SWAT team had been deployed. The end result of it was two police officers got shot...by other police officers. They originally claimed the guy that skipped out on the cab fare shot the officers, until they couldn't find any firearms in the area except their own and analysis of the bullets confirmed the bullets came from another officers firearm. Nobody died.
So yeah, moral here is, they deploy SWAT too often, and it's dangerous for the police when SWAT is deployed unnecessarily, as they seem to then shoot each other.
This is contradictory to the reduced IQ requirement. One man tried suing the police force for declining his application on the grounds that his IQ was too high. The supreme court upheld the force's decision. I believe that was a slashdot story around a year ago if anyone can post a link.
Sadly, a Libertarian cannot force his views on another, and freedom cannot spread as does the cancer known as religion.