Kansas 'Swat' Perpetrator Had Already Been To Prison For Fake Bomb Threats (go.com)

More details are emerging about an online gamer whose fake call to Kansas police led to a fatal shooting:

• "After phoning in a false bomb threat to a Glendale, California TV station in 2015, Tyler Barriss threatened to kill his grandmother if she reported him, according to local reports and court documents." -- The Wichita Eagle

• "The Glendale Police Department confirmed to ABC News that Tyler Barriss made about 20 calls to universities and media outlets throughout the country around the time he was arrested for a bomb threat to Los Angeles ABC station KABC in 2015... He was sentenced to two years and eight months in jail, court records show." -- ABC News

• "Within months of his release in August, he had already become the target of a Los Angeles Police Department investigation into similar hoax calls... LAPD detectives were planning to meet with federal prosecutors to discuss their investigation..." -- The Los Angeles Times

• The Wichita Eagle reports that even after the police had fatally shot the person SWauTistic was pretending to be, he continued his phone call with the 911 operator for another 16 minutes -- on a call which lasted over half an hour.

• Brian Krebs reports that police may have been aided in their investigation by another reformed SWAT perpetrator -- adding that SWauTistic privately claimed to have already called in fake emergencies at approximately 100 schools and 10 homes.

Just last month SWauTistic's Twitter account showed him bragging about a bomb threat which caused the evacuation of a Dallas convention center, according to the Daily Beast -- after which SWauTistic encouraged his Twitter followers to also follow him on a second account, "just in case twitter suspends me for being a god." Later the 25-year-old tweeted that "if you can't pull off a swat without getting busted you're not a leet hacking God its that simple."

Barriss remains in jail in Los Angeles with no bond, though within three weeks he's expected to be extradited to Kansas for his next trial.

Comments

Re:More proof we need more laws...

[Sarten-X]

Making a false report is already illegal, and there's a decent case that this guy could get some form of manslaughter charge as well. Laws aren't going to fix this.

I, for one, am betting on AI being the best hope. Let AI watch conversations on games (where it is a private affair, mind you, not a constitutional issue), and start cracking down on overly-aggressive players before they can turn into hazards.

The moment something crosses the line of legality, the game platform should have all the logs and records needed to make an easy case for prosecution, and that case law is what will change the public perception, and in turn reduce incidents. If the perpetrators know that they'll get caught and likely convicted, they'll find other (hopefully more legal and less lethal) means to vent their frustrations.

Re:Well, that's true

[Anonymous Coward]

We need laws which make it illegal for the cops to roll up on someone and execute them on the basis that someone claimed that there was a crime occurring

Exactly! The core problem is the militarization of police.

https://www.npr.org/2014/08/19/341542537/police-militarization-becomes-a-hot-topic

Unfortunately, the Black Lives Matter movement co-opted the police militarization issue, and claim (incorrectly) that police militarization is driven by racism. For example, one of their key demands is the following:

We demand an end to the war against Black people. Since this country’s inception there have been named and unnamed wars on our communities. We demand an end to the criminalization, incarceration, and killing of our people. This includes:

...

8. The demilitarization of law enforcement, including law enforcement in schools and on college campuses.

Re:Can we go back to the actual killer?

[Uberbah]

If it had been a real situation and the cop hadn't shot him everyone would be screaming at the police for not taking action when they had the chance.

Nope. Still bullshit:

it wasn't that clear cut, the fuckwit on the phone that called in the threat had supposedly shot his father and was holding the rest of his family prisoner and preparing to shoot them.

For all the cops knew, that was a hostage walking out the door.

Re: More proof we need more laws...

[gnasher719]

What about the pigs who did the actual murdering - should they be treated as harshly as this dumb asshole kid?

There were no pigs involved, but armed police officers. And they didn't murder anyone. They were called to a supposedly highly dangerous situation and made a mistake.