California police arrest suspect in deadly swatting prank

Police in California have arrested a Los Angeles man, Tyler Barriss, in connection to the prank 911 call that brought a SWAT team to the Kansas home of an unarmed father of two, Andrew Finch, who was killed Thursday when one of the officers opened fire after Finch opened his front door. Barriss is held without bond and will not appear in court until Tuesday at the earliest. It is not yet known what charges may be filed against him or whether he is believed to be the hoax caller.

There is no specific federal law against swatting, but CNN legal analyst Paul Callan said federal authorities might choose charges of "reckless homicide, because when you do something like this to set up a raid by a SWAT team on an innocent family, you're putting people's lives in danger." An additional option would be wire fraud, which Callan explained serves as "a catchall statute for these new crimes that haven't been anticipated."

Past swatting cases have been complicated by the age of the accused; in 2013, for example, a 12-year-old made swatting calls targeting the homes of actor Ashton Kutcher and singer Justin Bieber. If Barriss is the alleged caller, age will not be an issue in prosecution as he is 25.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up