Kansas 'Swat' Perpetrator Will Now Plead Guilty To Dozens More Swat Incidents (nbcnews.com)

An anonymous reader quotes NBC News: The California man behind a years-long string of hoax 911 calls -- including one that ended in a Kansas man's death -- wants to plead guilty to all charges, court documents revealed. Tyler Rai Barriss, 25, intends to waive his right to trial and admit guilt to a 46-count federal indictment, according to a document he signed on Oct. 18 and was filed in U.S. District Court on Wednesday. Barriss faces up to life behind bars for his dozens of acts of "swatting" -- calling police to falsely report a serious crime, in hopes of drawing a massive response to the home of an unsuspecting target.... According to the court records, Barriss will admit to dozens of "swatting" incidents all over America between 2015 and the end of 2017, The false alarms connected to Barriss happened in Ohio, Nevada, Illinois, Indiana, Virginia, Texas, Arizona, Massachusetts, MIssouri, Maine, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Indiana, Michigan, Florida, Connecticut and New York.
Barriss performed SWATs if clients sent him $10 over PayPal -- occasionally demanding "upwards of $50," according to a new (possibly pay-walled) article on Wired. A Call of Duty player hired Barriss to SWAT a teammate who'd caused them to lose a $1.50 wager, but his intended target supplied a false address across town which resulted in the fatal police shooting.

Both gamers are now "awaiting trial on lesser charges," reports NBC.

Comments

Good

[The Evil Atheist]

Now arrest the fuckers who procured his services.

Re:Good

[The Evil Atheist]

The summary also talks about dozens of other incidents. Who ever procured his services for dozens of other potential murders should be arrested.

How fucked up is America to let this happen?

[Anonymous Coward]

Every time the police just shrugs and gets off free.

"We didn't do anything. Someone said there was a situation at this address, so we just bust the door down and shot whoever was inside. It's not our fault"

And the worst part is that you Americans just accept that this is the way it is and has to be. You just yell at the guy who made the phone call, but have nothing to say about the vaccuum-headed police and their inability to investigate or even think before firing their weapons.

Re:How fucked up is America to let this happen?

[sjames]

Be shot with WHAT? A dirty look? Unarmed citizen in the open vs squad of well armed body armored cops standing behind their cars.

And he probably couldn't hear their instructions.

Keep in mind, you may be the turkey the next time a squad of cops opens fire. It's not like you have to actually be doing anything even vaguely questionable to end up in their crosshairs.

The rest of the problem

[Kohath]

Now fix the on-call violence delivery service. At least add:
- accountability for police
- mandatory fact-finding before believing whatever story a caller wants to tell
- body cameras with recordings available to the public (maybe with some controls if you're scared of the public having access to the information for whatever reason)
- specific trading requirements for SWAT teams, with presumed liability for failure to train
- a duty for the police to make a genuine attempt protect the life and dignity of everyone they encounter

Re:The rest of the problem

[Kohath]

They should do a much better job. When they stop killing innocent people, that will be how we know they've improved training and procedures and their approach to the lives of people around them.

When they stop stonewalling public accountability, we'll know they've finally realized their role is to serve the public rather than oversee us as if we were cattle to be milked for taxes and traffic fines.

Re:The rest of the problem

[Kohath]

When a violent crime is happening and lives are hanging in the balance, there's no time for your little checklist.

Plenty of time to gun down innocents though.

Re:The rest of the problem

[Kohath]

Yes, that's exactly the attitude that results in police killing innocents. Congratulations on illustrating it for everyone.

Re:The rest of the problem

[vbdasc]

When a violent crime is happening and lives are hanging in the balance, there's no time for your little checklist.

Actually, in this particular case there was plenty of time to think. In a hostage situation, you simply don't rush things. Unless you're incompetent police, that is.

Unfortunately, some lives will be lost when people don't follow the commands they are given.

What if the guy who is given commands happens to be deaf? A foreigner who doesn't understand the language? Slow-witted? Intoxicated? The police command just becomes a death sentence, according to your logic. It shouldn't be this way.

The bottom line is, IMHO, that both Barriss and the police bear the bulk of responsibility for this unfortunate incident, and neither should be allowed to avoid paying the price.

Doxing, Swatting, and Social Media

[Anonymous Coward]

Swatting is just one of the reasons why associating any online accounts you have with your real identity is a terrible idea. This happened because a guy lost a counterstrike match. Another teammate was mad at him, they got in an argument, the guy tried to dox him though his steam profile linked to a facebook page, and ended up getting a completely random person killed as a result. You put your real info on those social media pages, and that's the police kicking down your door and you getting killed. People ask "what do you have to hide". Apparently it's a bunch of jackbooted thugs kicking down your door at 11:30pm because some pathetic waste of flesh on the internet who was mad over losing a $1.50 bet decided to pay someone to anonymously call in a hostage situation.

Oh, no...no...no

[Anonymous Coward]

This is all on the prank caller....

The cops didn't have to shoot an unarmed man from across the street as soon as he opened the door. There is no excuse for that kind of incompetence and stupidity. Their lives were never in danger. They didn't size up the scene properly. And they didn't verify their target - it could have easily been a hostage.

It's all on the cops.

Re:...state-sanctioned hit squads...

[knorthern knight]

> The police had cause to come to the house, they had a call for help
> and the caller provided an address. This is in effect their warrant.

Ex-bleeping-scuse me. Police knock on the door, a fat guy in shorts comes to answer it, and a police sniper scores a direct hit on the guy's head, killing him instantly. He was no threat to anybody. *EVEN IF THIS HAD BEEN A REAL HOSTAGE SITUATION*, the hostage taker is more likely to send a hostage to answer the door, than to answer it himself. The trigger-happy asshole who pulled the trigger is just as guilty as Barriss.

Re:...state-sanctioned hit squads...

[sjames]

The police had cause to come to the house, they had a call for help and the caller provided an address.

Absolutely. Then they had a call to wonder why the house didn't match the description, why the call didn't actually come in on 911, why the guy at the door seems confused, etc. Too bad they failed that one. Next up, they had the number one rule of shooting, VERIFY YOUR TARGET. They get an EPIC FAIL on that one.

I don't think it's at all too much to ask that police think before they start shooting so they don't kill people minding their own business in their own homes.

Re:...state-sanctioned hit squads...

[dryeo]

The cop shot someone when the someone was not a threat. That should be a murder charge as shooting someone who is not a threat should not be tolerated.
Had a case up here not long ago where the cop got acquitted of murder as the knife wielding person was a threat. The cop did get convicted of attempted murder for the 6 bullets he put in him after the 2 (3?) that killed the perp. There needs to be more consequences for people misusing and removing peoples freedom to live by misusing firearms.
You want an armed society, the armed people better be responsible with those arms and in my experience, there are too many who aren't.