The fictitious death of a player in an online video game sparked the series of events that led a Los Angeles man to place a deadly prank call that ended with a fatal police shooting in Kansas late last year, according to court records released Friday.
Tyler Raj Barriss, 25, was charged with involuntary manslaughter earlier this month for his role in a “swatting” incident that started with an online gaming dispute and ended with Wichita police fatally shooting a 28-year-old man.
Prosecutors say Barriss called Wichita Police from Los Angeles on Dec. 28, falsely claiming he had shot and killed his father and was holding his mother and a sibling hostage at a home in the city.
When police arrived, they shot and killed 28-year-old Andrew Finch after he exited the residence and reached toward his waistband. He was unarmed, and police quickly discovered no one had been injured or held at gunpoint at the home.
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