‘Swatting’ suspected in fatal shooting by Kansas police

Police in Wichita, Kansas say a prankster who lured police to a home in a ‘‘swatting’’ incident is responsible for a fatal officerinvolved shooting.

A 28-year-old man was fatally shot by a police officer on Friday. Relatives have identified him as Andrew Finch.

Deputy Police Chief Troy Livingston said yesterday that a prankster called 911 claiming to be an occupant of the home, saying he had shot his father and was holding his mother and a sibling hostage.

When police showed up, Finch went to the front door. Livingston said that when Finch reached towards his waistband, an officer feared he had a gun and shot him.

Livingston said Finch was unarmed, and no-one else in the house was hurt.

The practice of making a false report to get a SWAT team sent to a location is known as ‘‘swatting’’. It is most common among online gamers, but Finch’s relatives said he was not a gamer.

A supervisor at the FBI office in Kansas City, Missouri confirmed that agents had been asked to join the investigation.

A spokeswoman for UMC Gaming said the company, which runs online gaming tournaments, was assisting authorities with their investigations.

Kansas law makes some false calls to police a felony that can be punished up to 13 months in prison for a first offender.

In Kansas, it is a misdemeanour to make a false call for emergency, fire or police services. It is a felony to use an electronic device or software to conceal the caller’s identity. It is a more severe felony if the call falsely claims to be about violent crime or an immediate danger to a person.

Finch’s mother said her son was ‘‘murdered’’.

Lisa Finch told the Wichita Eagle newspaper that her son was unarmed when he opened the door to the family’s home after hearing something. She said he screamed and was shot.

She said the family then was forced outside barefoot in freezing cold, and that her granddaughter was forced to step over her dying uncle.

Finch’s aunt Madeline Finch said the family was ‘‘saddened’’, but declined to comment further.