Swatting arrest after police shooting

UNITED STATES: Police in Los Angeles have arrested a man they suspect made a hoax emergency call that resulted in a SWAT police officer fatally shooting a man at the door of his own home in Kansas, law enforcement officials said yesterday.

Wichita Deputy Police Chief Troy Livingston on Saturday characterised the hoax call as ‘‘swatting’' in which a ‘‘prankster’' called 911 with a fake story about a shooting and kidnapping to draw a SWAT team to the victim’s address. Authorities haven’t released the name of the man who was killed on Friday, but relatives have identified him as 28-year-old Andrew Finch.

Tyler Barriss, 25, is suspected of making that call and was arrested in Los Angeles on Saturday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department and the Wichita Police Department in statements emailed yesterday.

In audio of the 911 call played by Wichita police at a news conference, a man said he shot his father in the head and that he was holding his mother and a sibling at gunpoint. The caller, speaking with relative calm, also said he poured gasoline inside the home ‘‘and I might just set it on fire.’'

Officers subsequently surrounded the home at the address the caller provided and when Finch went to the door, police told him to put his hands up.

But Livingston said the man moved a hand toward his waistband and amofficer, fearing the man was reaching for a gun, fired a single shot.

Dexerto, an online news service focused on gaming, reported that the series of events began with an online argument over a $1 or $2 wager in a Call of Duty game on UMG Gaming, which operates online tournaments including one involving ‘‘Call of Duty.’' - AP