Innocent man killed by police after Call of Duty gamer made prank call

A GAMER has been arrested over a hoax phone call that sent armed police to an innocent man’s house, where he was shot dead.

A 25-YEAR-OLD man has been arrested in Los Angeles after a “swatting” incident led to an innocent man’s death in Kansas.

The arrested man was identified as Tyler Raj Barriss, according to BNO News. Barriss, who is known online as “SWAuTistic”, is said to have a history of swatting.

“Swatting” is cyber crime where a hoax call is made to emergency services with the intent of having a large number of SWAT officers dispatched to the victim’s address.

The incident unfolded when a “Call of Duty” player, believed to be Barriss, made a phony 911 call to Wichita police at about 6pm on Thursday, reports the New York Post .

On the phone call, Barriss claimed he had just shot his dad and was holding his mum and brother hostage, Wichita deputy chief Troy Livingston told reporters. The address he gave led the police to the home of Andy Finch, 28.

When officers arrived, they surrounded the house where the alleged shooting had happened.

A man walked out the front door. He raised and dropped his hands multiple times before an officer opened fire, killing the man with one shot, Mr Livingston said.

But it was all a fraud.

Officers searched the house and found four people inside — none who had been shot or threatened.

A man, who identified himself as SWAuTistic, was interviewed by Daniel Keem on the YouTube channel DramaAlert. The man admitted to calling police but argued that he was not responsible for the man’s death, saying that it was not him who pulled the trigger.

“The arguement can be made that the police would never have showed up if I hadn’t made the call, however, I don’t believe I’m the only guilty party involved in this whole incident, considering I was contacted and, you know, almost instructed to swat, and taunted to swat,” he said.

Mr Livingston called the “swatting” incident a “tragic and senseless act”.

“The irresponsible actions of a prankster put people and lives at risk,” Mr Livingston said.

“The incident is a nightmare for everyone involved including the family and our police department.”

Gamers told The Eagle newspaper of Wichita that the fake call stemmed from a feud between two “Call of Duty” players.

Gaming industry news site Dexerto reported the argument was over a $US1 ($1.30) or $US2 ($2.60) bet.

The prankster put great detail in the deadly prank, cops said.

“The calling party stated that he didn’t mean to kill his dad. He was arguing with his mum and things got out of hand,” Mr Livingston said.

The officer who fired is a 7 ½-year veteran, who has been placed on administrative leave.

Mr Livingston defended the officer, saying the cop genuinely feared the victim was reaching for a gun. He turned out to be unarmed.

“There were several commands given” by police, Mr Livingston said.

“They were all consistent, ‘Put your hands up walk towards us.’ But he continued to drop them down by his waistband.”

Despite this tragic outcome, Mr Livingston said his cops won’t discount 911 calls.

“When you call for help you’re going to get help. The officers have to respond accordingly,” he said.

A relative of the killed man told The Wichita Eagle that he didn’t play video games.

According to the newspaper, the actual target of the “swatting” wrote on Twitter: “Someone tried to swat me and got an innocent man killed.”

Other gaming fans have taken to Twitter to call for players to stop “swatting”.