Slashdot Mirror
Kansas 'Swat' Perpetrator Charged; Faces 11 More Years in Prison (latimes.com)
Jail time looms for 25-year-old Tyler Barriss, whose fake call to Kansas police led to a fatal shooting:
- Barriss "was in a Wichita jail on Saturday," Reuters reported, and even his first court appearance Friday was a video appearance from jail.
- Barriss was charged with involuntary manslaughter, and if convicted "could face up to 11 years and three months in prison." He was also charged with making a false alarm, which is considered a felony. The District Attorney adds that others have also been identified as "potential suspects" in the case, but they're still deciding whether to charge them.
- Barriss' bond has been set at $500,000.
- Friday Barriss gave his first interview to a local news outlet -- from jail. "Of course, you know, I feel a little of remorse for what happened," he tells KWCH. "I never intended for anyone to get shot and killed. I don't think during any attempted swatting anyone's intentions are for someone to get shot and killed..."
Asked about the call, Barriss acknowledged that "It hasn't just affected my life, it's affected someone's family too. Someone lost their life. I understand the magnitude of what happened. It's not just affecting me because I'm sitting in jail. I know who it has affected. I understand all of that."
- Barriss has also been charged in Calgary with public mischief, fraud and mischief for another false phone call, police said, though it's unlikely he'll ever be arrested unless he enters the country. Just six days before the fatal shooting, Barriss had made a nearly identical call to police officers in Canada, this time supplying the address of a well-known video gamer who livestreams on Twitch, and according to one eyewitness more than 20 police cars surrounded her apartment building for at least half an hour.
As a European the sole focus on the author of the call is really stunning. Itâ(TM)s like itâ(TM)s only his fault and not in any way the fault of your police who tend to shoot way too many innocent people. EU has twice the number of inhabitant as the US and how many EU citizen get killed by the Police? For Germany it is 15x less. why? because in Europe police officer know that there will be consequences for killing an innocent citizen. In US most of the police officer just go away with it.
It's still obviously much more the police's fault than his. They straight up murdered someone without even giving him time to react. A judgement was made based on incomplete information and a person was executed. Police being willing to murder someone over mere suspicions is the real issue. This idiot prankster should be punished but the murder of this man is a symptom of the way police are trained/operate. Now, they are trying to displace responsibility and clean their hands. In the end, the prankster didn't pull the trigger and there is no reasonable world in which one should expect to be killed by police over a prank phone call.
Absolutely agree. Putting the spotlight 100% on the prankster is creating the perfect storm in which to simply bury the actions of SWAT behind the hype of a swatting story. I sure as hell hope not, as the family DESERVES a fair investigation of ALL parties involved. The prankster certainly had a part in this and earned his punishment, but he wasn't the one who pulled the trigger and ended an innocent mans life.
"Prankster"? That doesn't even begin to describe the act of getting armed police to think a life-or-death situation is going on, and that the perpetrators are your target. Even the best police occasionally make mistakes, and anyone who sets someone else up to be at the receiving end of a situation where deadly force is authorized has a reasonable chance of getting his target killed.
Speaking of being rather dismissive, an "occasional mistake" ended a mans life. I hope that the hype surrounding the concept of swatting doesn't bury the fact that a family deserves some answers for that fuck-up. Society has grown tired of finding the "occasional" happening perhaps more than necessary.
The caller was the murderer and the police were his weapon, just as if he had hired a hit man.
OK, enough with the ignorance already. Every US military leader would not take kindly to being labeled a mass murderer, and they certainly have engaged vast armies of "weapons" authorized to use deadly force. Also intent matters, which is exactly why he's being charged with involuntary manslaughter and not murder.
To be clear, I'm not defending his actions one bit, and punishment should be served. That's not an excuse to escape reasoned thought and common sense.
He was outside, alone, surrounded by 20 armed officers, all of whom were behind car doors, wearing body armor, at distance. In the half a second it would have taken to confirm if he had a gun, he could have killed.. let's see here... yeah, ZERO people. Reflect on that jackass. Not being sure goes way beyond a mistake, it's straight up murder.
Unfortunately, the "overwhelming majority" is overwhelmingly likely to cover up for the bad apples.
In answer to your question, We hear about police shooting unarmed civilians at a rate of more than one per week. In 2015, US police shot 94 unarmed civilians. In 2016, the number was 51 and in 2017, it was 68.
If you could add in the number of "armed" civilians that were shot where the "bad apple" cop placed his "drop weapon" next to the victim, and where his "good apple" partner backed his story, that number would go way up.
You are welcome on my lawn.