Government resumes prosecution in deadly ‘swatting’ case

BELLE PLAINE, KAN. » A Kansas gamer whose online dispute with another player sparked a deadly hoax call will have to face a jury after violating the terms of a diversion deal he made with prosecutors, a judge ruled Monday.

U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren granted the government’s motion to resume prosecution of Shane Gaskill of Wichita and set his trial for Oct. 5.

Gaskill is charged with conspiracy, wire fraud and other counts in connection with a series of events on Dec. 28, 2017, that culminated in t he fatal police shooting of an innocent 28-year-old man on the front porch of his family’s home in Wichita.

The death of Andrew Finch drew national attention to “swatting,” a form of retaliation in which someone reports a false emergency to get authorities, particularly a SWAT team, to descend on an address.

Gaskill had struck an 18-month pretrial diversion agreement with prosecutors in December 2019 that could have allowed the charges against him to be dropped. That agreement was extended in December 2020 for an additional year to give him more time to obtain his high school equivalency.