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Wichita man killed by police after false hostage report was 'murdered' – mother Kansas man shot dead by police after hoax call linked to online game
(about 17 hours later)
The mother of a Wichita, Kansas, man who was killed by police responding to a false report of a homicide and hostage situation has said her son was “murdered”. Police and the FBI are investigating whether an argument over an online game prompted a hoax call that led to a house where an officer shot and killed a Kansas man who apparently was not involved in the dispute.
Police are investigating whether the call that led police to the home was a so-called “swatting” prank, in which someone makes up a false report to get a Swat team to descend upon a home. Wichita deputy police chief Troy Livingston on Friday blamed a “prankster” who called 911 and made up a story about a shooting and kidnapping. He did not mention reports that an argument over online gaming was at the heart of the prank, although he said investigators had made good progress tracking online leads.
Such pranks are common among online gamers. Lisa Finch, the mother of the dead man, said he did not play video games. Police have not disclosed the name of the man who was killed Thursday evening, but relatives identified him as Andrew Finch, 28.
Lisa Finch told the Wichita Eagle 28-year-old Andrew Finch, the father of two young children, was unarmed when he opened the door to the family home on Thursday night after hearing something. Livingston, speaking at a news conference, said the hoax call was a case of “swatting”, in which a person makes up a false report to get a Swat team to descend on an address.
She said he screamed and was shot. “Due to the actions of a prankster we have an innocent victim,” Livingston said. He said no one has been arrested in connection with the hoax.
The family then was forced outside barefoot in freezing cold, she said, her granddaughter being forced to step over her dying uncle. Family members were handcuffed, she said, placed in separate police vehicles and taken in for questioning. Police played audio of the call to 911. A man said his father had been shot in the head. He said he was holding his mother and a sibling at gunpoint. The caller, speaking with relative calm, said he poured gasoline inside the home “and I might just set it on fire”.
“What gives the cops the right to open fire?” Finch asked. “Why didn’t they give him the same warning they gave us? That cop murdered my son over a false report.” Several officers arrived and surrounded the home, braced for a hostage situation. When Finch went to the door police told him to put his hands up and move slowly.
Deputy police chief Troy Livingston earlier said the officer who fired the fatal shot was responding to a report that someone had been accidentally fatally shot and that the shooter was holding three people hostage. Livingston said the man moved a hand toward the area of his waistband a common place where guns are concealed. An officer, fearing the man was reaching for a gun, fired a single shot. Finch died a few minutes later at a hospital. Livingston said Finch was unarmed.
A 28-year-old man was shot as he came to the front door, Livingston said. He did not say what caused the officer to shoot the man or whether he was armed. No one else was wounded in the home. The officer, a seven-year veteran of the department, is on paid leave pending the investigation.
Andrew Finch’s aunt, Madeline Finch told the Associated Press the family was “saddened” but declined to comment further. The Finch family on Friday allowed reporters inside their home. Lisa Finch told them her son was not a gamer.
Lisa Finch said: “We want Andy’s side of the story to be told.” “What gives the cops the right to open fire?” she told the Wichita Eagle. “That cop murdered my son over a false report in the first place.”
The FBI is investigating, a supervisor at the bureau’s office in Kansas City, Missouri, confirmed on Friday. Lisa Finch said the family was forced outside barefoot in freezing cold and handcuffed after the shooting. She said her granddaughter was forced to step over her dying uncle and that no guns were found in the home.
Dexerto, an online news service focused on gaming, reported that the series of events began with an online argument over a $1 or $2 wager in a Call of Duty game on UMG Gaming, which operates online tournaments including one involving Call of Duty.
“We woke this morning to horrible news about an innocent man losing his life,” UMG spokeswoman Shannon Gerritzen said in an email. “Our hearts go out to his loved ones. We are doing everything we can to assist the authorities in this matter.”
She declined to disclose other details.
In addition to the 911 call, police also released a brief video of body camera footage from another officer at the scene. It was difficult to see clearly what happened.
The FBI estimates that roughly 400 cases of swatting occur annually, with some using caller ID spoofing to disguise their number. An FBI supervisor in Kansas City, Missouri, which covers all of Kansas, said the agency joined in the investigation at the request of local police.
In other cases of apparent swatting, three families in Florida in January had to evacuate their homes after a detective received an anonymous email claiming bombs had been placed at the address.
A 20-year-old Maryland man was shot in the face with rubber bullets by police in 2015 after a fake hostage situation was reported at his home.
Katherine Clark, a Massachusetts Democrat, introduced an anti-swatting bill in 2015 then was herself the victim of swatting. Armed officers in 2016 responded to an anonymous call claiming an active shooter was at Clark’s home.