Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Crime United States

Kansas 'Swat' Perpetrator Charged; Faces 11 More Years in Prison (latimes.com) 428

Jail time looms for 25-year-old Tyler Barriss, whose fake call to Kansas police led to a fatal shooting:
  • 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.
  • 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.

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Kansas 'Swat' Perpetrator Charged; Faces 11 More Years in Prison

Comments Filter:
  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14, 2018 @04:45AM (#55925375)

    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...

    You called in a situation that led to the police sending in armed, trigger happy troops. These guys are under immense pressure, expecting to have to deal with hostages, armed kidnappers, and whatever else. What the hell did you think would happen - the police would knock on the door politely, walk in calmly, and sit down for some milk and cookies?

    You didn't think. You just went and pulled the trigger, not caring about the potential consequences, acting like it was all a game.

    Sure, the Kansas police bear a part of the burden - the training of their SWAT teams (and other SWAT teams around the country) is far too militaristic, and they call them out far too quickly (although in fairness, that's not always obvious until after the event.) But the bulk of the burden of this "incident" (for lack of a better term.. maybe "debacle"?) falls squarely upon the guy who made the false report, and the culture that considers SWATting to be a "harmless prank".

    Maybe this will be a wake up call, and SWATting will cease to be a thing. But somehow, I doubt it.

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday January 14, 2018 @06:09AM (#55925553)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • by Kjella ( 173770 )

        because they suck at their jobs worse than a porn star on a Bang bros set!

        In other words they suck worse than a professional expert on sucking? That wasn't a very successful insult... suck more perhaps.

      • by JaredOfEuropa ( 526365 ) on Sunday January 14, 2018 @07:25AM (#55925795) Journal
        Besides, at that point the guy coming out of his house is not a criminal, not a "perp", but a member of the public. They have no idea what the guy is up to or if he is even armed, and his live comes before those of the responding officers. If the guy makes what they think might be a threatening move, their option is to take cover, maybe tase him, not shoot first on assuming the worst case scenario.
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Biogoly ( 2026888 )
        Wish I had some mod points for ya. This Barris guy is an idiot and deserves jail time and monetary fines (which unfortunately will never be collected from his NEET ass), but he certainly is not a murderer. I'm completely gobsmacked by how many people are willing to defend these jackboot gestapo squads. I mean, this was a residential neighborhood in Kansas for chrissakes and they approached the situation like they were clearing a block in Fallujah. Did they even do a minute of surveillance?
        • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

          by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday January 14, 2018 @09:36AM (#55926157)
          Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

            by Solandri ( 704621 )
            The SWAT team was told not only that was there already a fatality and a hostage situation, but that the house had been doused in gasoline. So the fact that the victim answered the door in his shorts and apparently unarmed didn't eliminate the perceived danger. It also took flash bangs and tasers out of their toolbox (those can ignite gasoline fumes). Rubber bullets and especially bean bags do not work as well through a glass patio door. They also thought time was a factor as other random occurrences can
            • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14, 2018 @02:31PM (#55927439)

              The SWAT team was told not only that was there already a fatality and a hostage situation, but that the house had been doused in gasoline. So the fact that the victim answered the door in his shorts and apparently unarmed didn't eliminate the perceived danger.

              They killed the hostage. In any reasonable police training exercise they would have been failed as shooting an unarmed person who answered the door. Do you know who is forced, at gunpoint, to answer the door unarmed in hostage situations? Hostages.

              Rationalize and lie best you can. Those police have a murderer hiding behind the law and some of them know it.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Swatting is just plain retarded, I don't understand how can someone find it a 'funny prank'. Everything has limits and you don't joke about life threatening situations or stuff that can cause harm to others. During my studies I managed to spend a couple summers in the U.S. and I had a great time with fellow students, but I never understood some of their pranks (albeit by far not as dangerous as swatting) - it just wasn't funny for me. To me as an outsider it seems more like a cultural thing - there are just

      • Where is the fun? I mean, if you burn down a house you at least get to watch it burn, but when you SWAT someone, you rarely get the chance to be there to see them beat the guy down.

        Even if you ignore legality and all, it's not even FUN.

    • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Sunday January 14, 2018 @06:28AM (#55925605)

      the police would knock on the door politely, walk in calmly, and sit down for some milk and cookies?

      Well yes, that's how hostage situations are diffused in much of the rest of the world. The fact that swatting is a thing just shows how fucked up your police are in the first place.

    • You mentioned several important issues: 1) Police are sometimes "trigger happy troops". 2) Police are "under immense pressure". Yes! Difficult job. 3) "Kansas police ... training of ... SWAT teams ... is far too militaristic." 4) "... the bulk of the burden ... falls squarely upon the guy who made the false report..."

      There are other issues. Putting someone in prison for years: 1) Damages that person mentally and increases the mental disturbance they have when they enter prison. 2) Costs taxpayers HUGE a
      • There are other issues. Putting someone in prison for years: 1) Damages that person mentally and increases the mental disturbance they have when they enter prison. 2) Costs taxpayers HUGE amounts of money.

        Fully agree. Can we send a swatting team to this home then to save on cost?

      • Norway is rehabilitative, not destructive, to those who commit crimes. Michael Moore's film, Where to Invade Next [imdb.com] explored the system in Norway, and prompted articles like this one: Why Norway's prison system is so successful [businessinsider.com]. Quote from that article: "... when criminals in Norway leave prison, they stay out. It has one of the lowest recidivism rates in the world at 20%. The US has one of the highest: 76.6% of prisoners are re-arrested within five years."

        At one time, The US was not so bad at the rehab concept. Folsom Prison is an example.Back in the day, they had a low recidivism rate, then the "get tough on crime" crowd took over, and now it is an overcrowded shithole with a nice high recidivism rate.

        It is obvious that the get tough on crime ideal has worked about as well as the War on Drugs.

        So you end up wondering why so many people still believe in an obviously failed paradigm.

        Here's why - a fair percentage of the American people have deathlust.

    • by Z00L00K ( 682162 )

      Maximum penalty for that one - classify swatting as attempted homicide or homicide depending on the outcome.

      That would cut down the numbers quite fast. And no repeat offenders.

    • by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Sunday January 14, 2018 @07:15AM (#55925767) Homepage Journal

      But the bulk of the burden of this "incident" (for lack of a better term.. maybe "debacle"?) falls squarely upon the guy who made the false report,

      Bull. Fucking. Shit. The bulk of the burden falls directly upon the cop who pulled the trigger. A lesser share of it goes to the piece of shit who called the cops. An even lesser share of it goes to the piece of shit who gave someone else's address when asked for his own. The cops were locked and loaded, the guy who called the cops pulled the trigger, but the guy who gave someone else's address to someone who wanted to have him killed pointed the gun.

      But you can never, ever take the ultimate responsibility out of the shooter's hands. He has the ultimate responsibility to prevent an unwarranted shooting, whether he is a cop or not. Anyone who cannot handle that responsibility should be disarmed immediately. That goes with the territory.

    • by Cederic ( 9623 )

      What did I think would happen? Luckily the summary offers an answer:

      more than 20 police cars surrounded her apartment building for at least half an hour

      Oh look. Identical fucking situation but instead of murdering some poor sod on his own doorstep the police used some fucking intelligence instead.

      Sorry, no, that's not what I think would happen. I think the US police would go in gung-ho and murder some poor cunt because that's how fucking stupid they are.

    • What the hell did you think would happen - the police would knock on the door politely, walk in calmly, and sit down for some milk and cookies?

      Umm... yes, that's how you deal with hostage situations in most other parts of this planet. You knock at the door, you tell them to surrender and that there's someone here willing and able to talk to them if they want to so they could find a way out of the mess.

      Remember, you're standing behind a bulletproof shield while saying that. Unless the guy inside has a bazooka, you can still afterwards go in and gun everything down in sight should he actually be dumb enough to open fire. Because then you also have E

    • by Memnos ( 937795 )

      I think there is plenty of fault to go around to all parties in this -- the police and the SWATter. The actions of the police, at least the officer who fired and perhaps others, rise to the level of manslaughter. Calling in the police under the pretext the SWATter used should be a felony, and any deaths that resulted from that should be considered felony murder. The police higher up in the administration, and the department as a whole, should be civilly liable in a wrongful death claim. In other words, the

  • Psychopath (Score:5, Insightful)

    by The Evil Atheist ( 2484676 ) on Sunday January 14, 2018 @04:45AM (#55925377)
    His earlier response shows he's a psychopath, so there' no doubt that he's only feeling remorseful "for the cameras", so to speak.
    • Re: Psychopath (Score:5, Insightful)

      by xenog ( 3653043 ) on Sunday January 14, 2018 @05:31AM (#55925475)
      Yes, this stood out for me too. The guy is a psychopath. I read some statements he posted anonymously previously, and his mind seems quite warped. He enjoys doing this, putting other people in dangerous situations. I think he wanted samebody to eventually get killed. That makes him a sadist. He is dangerous, and he'll still be dangerous when released from prison. He should remain under surveillance afterwards. These people do not think like regular people do. The way their minds work, they may just as well be another species.
    • His earlier response shows he's a psychopath, so there' no doubt that he's only feeling remorseful "for the cameras", so to speak.

      He said basically "I understand that I'm not the only one who suffered. The family of the victim is also suffering".

      That's a psychopath for you. And when people say they are sorry for the family of the victim, they should first and foremost feel sorry for the victim, who is now lying in a coffin six foot deep.

  • Good for him! It makes you worry about the ones smart enough to avoid getting caught although.

    SWAT teams should better confirm their targets anyway...

  • And the police (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    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.

    • Also as a European, I do fully understand that if a heavily armed team like a SWAT team is sent in, they will be expecting a certain situation. Now, the question is, why were they and not a nomal police unit sent in on the basis of one call? (I'm not saying there wasn't a reason, just thinking out loud.) I agree that the US and other places have issues with police using excessive force but in this case their actions were the result of a multitude of contributory factors. Highly armed response units like thi

      • Did you not read what the content of the call was or does that not factor into your understanding of the situation? They were under the impression that a murder had been committed and hostages were in immediate danger. **THAT'S** why they didn't send only one officer.
      • by Cederic ( 9623 )

        I can understand the heavily armed response, I just don't understand why heavily armed police aren't also highly trained.

        Highly armed response units like this are trained to shoot because generally that's what they need to do.

        No. Normally they need to be present in case a situation escalates, but most of their deployments end peacefully or without shots being fired. They should be trained to shoot only when necessary.

        On this occasion it pretty fucking clearly wasn't necessary.

    • by Megol ( 3135005 )

      Ridiculous! Did you know that the amount of people regularly carrying loaded guns in the US is larger than that in the EU?

      In order to be able to carry a gun on your person ready to use in the EU you have to show that you have a reason for that (under severe threat of deadly violence), you have to be in a position where you have no reason to have constant police protection and you have to be sane, very experienced with handling weapons etc. Very few people will ever get that permission - and rightly so IMO.

      T

  • by bradley13 ( 1118935 ) on Sunday January 14, 2018 @05:09AM (#55925425) Homepage

    Ok, so this douchebag will get what's coming to him. We're still missing at least one person, though: The cop who shot an innocent, unarmed person. You know, the guy who did the actual killing.

  • What about the officer which shot first , like a proper cowboy, without assessing the situation ? He pretty much share the responsibility and his a disgrace to "protect and server"... Scott free like any shooter like him ?
    • Share, hell. He is the sole killer.

  • by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Sunday January 14, 2018 @06:14AM (#55925563)
    Throw this asshole in prison. He deserves the maximum sentence under law.
    • Which is eleven years according to the summary, for involuntary manslaughter. It's not murder without intent. He's a dumb-ass, not a murderer.

      • IF you look at his past and posts I think Murder would have been more appropriate charge, it seems obvious his intent was to get someone hurt or killed, though I guess for prosecutors manslaughter will be the easier to prove and at least keeps him off the streets for a few more years.
        • by Nite_Hawk ( 1304 )

          IF you look at his past and posts I think Murder would have been more appropriate charge, it seems obvious his intent was to get someone hurt or killed, though I guess for prosecutors manslaughter will be the easier to prove and at least keeps him off the streets for a few more years.

          Personally I wouldn't be opposed to murder charges with the possibility of death penalty (let a jury decide his fate). It's one thing for a stupid 15yo kid to do this their first time (though they still should be punished).

          "Barriss, 25, was already well known to local law enforcement. Glendale Police Sgt. Daniel Suttles said he was behind at least two dozen fake bomb threats in the area in recent years, including incidents that prompted the evacuations of television stations and an elementary school."

          "In M

  • To add another source for the attempted swat in Calgary.

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada... [www.cbc.ca]

    One has to wonder what would happen if he wound up facing a crown prosecutor in Calgary. I'm just curious how many charges he would be hit with under the Criminal Code of Canada.

    I believe he would be busted if he tried doing either land air or sea to get into this country.

  • why isn't the SWAT team in jail as well? they killed an unarmed man for no reason.

    • why isn't the SWAT team in jail as well? they killed an unarmed man for no reason.

      They didn't kill an unarmed man for no reason. They killed an unarmed man because a psychopath convinced them to expect an armed murderer holding hostages.

      Assume that an armed person enters a house, kills one inhabitant, holds the rest hostage, and a neighbour calls the police with exactly the same message as this psychopath. A SWAT team will arrive, and the situation will be dangerous for the killer. However, the killer has the advantage (compared to the innocent victim in this case) that he can expect

      • It could have been a hostage sent to open the door. So yes, they have killed an unarmed man for no reason.

  • but it'd also be nice if our cops weren't so eager to fucking kill people at the drop of a hat.

  • I never intended for anyone to get shot and killed.

    Just to waste tax dollars (sending the police nowhere).
    And to waste police time, potentially diverting them from an actual emergency where some unintended victim might die.

  • on how the person in his own home was killed by the police. Encounters with police in America are too often fatal. The rules of engagement needs to be changed to reduce the risk of killing civilians.
    • How many fatal encounters do you think there are, exactly? Let me enlighten you with some actual facts:

      According to the FBI UCR, the total number of arrests (not traffic stops but arrests) in 2015 was 10,797,088. Probably double that for traffic tickets and other "interactions". Out of all those arrests, approximately 965 were fatally shot. Of those, 564 were armed with a gun, 281 had a weapon of some kind, only 90 were unarmed and essentially all of them were attacking officers, resisting arrest or felony

  • by lamer01 ( 1097759 )
    1. Chief of police should resign. 2. The supervisor who hired the shooter and/or is/was in charge of training should be demoted or fired 3. The shooter needs to be charged with manslaughter. Obviously many factors played into the final outcome of an innocent man being killed. If this was any other circumstance (not the police), most of the above would happen. We as a society should not tolerate this behaviour. Police themselves should aspire to a higher standard. They should not tolerate the current state
    • Everyone involved should be changed that includes the idiot who gave the swatter someone eases address.and never notified the cops. that jackass is just as guilty as the swatter IMO. Sad part is the cops are nothing more then over paid meter maids to give out traffic tickets to fill county coffers. How the hell does a spoofed call warrant a swat call??????????? send a squad car do some actual police work..
  • by LeftCoastThinker ( 4697521 ) on Monday January 15, 2018 @12:54AM (#55929673)

    The manslaughter charge is actually under charging the swatting perpetrator. A more reasonable charge would be negligent homicide or Murder 2. If suicide by cop is a thing, swatting is essentially murder by cop or attempted murder, depending. It is equivalent in culpability to putting on a blindfold and firing into a crowded street. You are not trying to kill anyone by aiming at them, but by taking those actions, any reasonable person can assume that someone is likely to be killed. Much like a gun, police officers responding to active shooter/hostage situations can be counted on to act a specific way, and like a gun they are deadly in their intent.

    Manslaughter is more along the lines of a bar fight where you are both equally responsible for starting the altercation, but the other guy has a bad heart and dies during the fight. You didn't mean to kill the guy and his death was not an expected outcome of some drunken fisticuffs.

    Cops are trained to behave a certain way when responding to a violent felony/murder/hostage situation. They are keyed up expecting to be facing an armed person who just killed an innocent victim and is likely to do so again at a moments notice. They are still imperfect humans that make mistakes of a fraction of a second, and the fact that an innocent person was killed in this case is a tragedy that that police officer will have to live with for the rest of his life.

    All the pinheads saying the cop is a murderer need to look up the definition of murder, namely, that the perpetrator needs malicious intent specifically against the victim. The cop who fatally shot the victim never laid eyes on him before that moment and by definition harbored no ill will against him, it was the victims bad luck that he made some sudden move, innocent though it may have actually been, that caused the officer to shoot, expecting to protect innocent lives and/or his fellow officers from what he understood to be an armed murderer.

    I hope the swatting perpetrator gets a very public trial and gets the maximum sentence as well as a civil suit that takes every penny he ever makes. Swatting as a practice needs to be severely punished and treated as attempted murder with every incident and investigated both locally and by the FBI. A few more cases like this and we might actually get some investment in proper infrastructure that eliminates spoofing caller IDs (all emergency lines should be able to trace the call back to a house number, IP phones should either be blocked from emergency services, or require a credit card/drivers license pre-authentication to a physical address to access emergency numbers over VOIP). Sure, there will still be a few hundred people on the planet who can place emergency calls anonymously, but no system is perfect, the perpetrator in this case certainly is no hacking genius.

Overflow on /dev/null, please empty the bit bucket.

Working...