Arrest made in LA in Kansas ‘swatting’ death
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — 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 Saturday.
Wichita Deputy Police Chief Troy Livingston on Friday characterized 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 Thursday, 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 Friday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department and the Wichita Police Department in emailed statements Saturday. Police provided no details including on possible charges or extradition.
The officer who shot Finch is on paid leave pending the investigation.
A law enforcement official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly said Barriss believed that a person involved in a disputed wager over a video game lived at the address, but that investigators don’t believe Finch was the intended target. Finch’s mother, Lisa Finch, said her son was not a gamer.
Court records show that Barriss was convicted in 2016 on two counts of making a false bomb report to a TV station in Glendale, California, and sent to Los Angeles County jail for two years. Jail records show he was released in January.