…in my area. Two universities reported swatting calls over the weekend. Millersville and West Chester University both reported swatting calls over the weekend. This is a dangerous event for both the person mentioned in the call and the police responding.
Swatting in my area had calmed down the past few years, but it appears they are still popular among the younger generation, especially gamers. Whether it’s a fake bomb call or a targeted person as an active shooter, people can and have been hurt and killed.
I remember one such action in Wichita, Kansas. A young man was swatted and came out of his house with both hand in the air with cops nearby ready to take down the false suspect. As the Officers approached the man, he dropped his hands and an Officer over a 100 yards away took the shot using a high powered rifle that killed the false swatter. He said he “thought” he saw him going for a gun. As an experienced state police Trooper, there’s no doubt in my mind this shooter was not very well trained. We are trained not to shoot unless you visibly see a weapon. The Officer was not charged or disciplined much to my disappointment.
This swatting call came from California on a request from a gamer in Ohio because he thought the other player cheated and asked the young man in California to make the call. Tyler Barriss of California was charged with making 51 swatting calls using an app on his phone that doesn’t show the cellphone’s number. He received a 20-year sentence to a Federal prison. He lived in California at the time. He was caught once prior and was not permitted to have any computers or cellphones. When he decided to restart his illegal practice of swatting, he used computers in a library and then found an app he could use on a cellphone, which he did.
I hope I got my facts right. I have read several documents regarding many other swatters, so it wouldn’t be difficult to make a mistake. I wrote this as I remembered the facts from reports I had read. I remember Tyler Barriss when I worked for the PSP. He was very good at his trade of swatting. The FBI had attempted to find his phone number or computer access for months before being arrested a second time. They did track him to California and that’s when his name came up as a person of interest because of him being a previous swatter. In an interview with an Agent, he told the Agent swatting became like an addiction. I apologize for the length of the post.
Wichita Swatting
University Swatting
Swatting in my area had calmed down the past few years, but it appears they are still popular among the younger generation, especially gamers. Whether it’s a fake bomb call or a targeted person as an active shooter, people can and have been hurt and killed.
I remember one such action in Wichita, Kansas. A young man was swatted and came out of his house with both hand in the air with cops nearby ready to take down the false suspect. As the Officers approached the man, he dropped his hands and an Officer over a 100 yards away took the shot using a high powered rifle that killed the false swatter. He said he “thought” he saw him going for a gun. As an experienced state police Trooper, there’s no doubt in my mind this shooter was not very well trained. We are trained not to shoot unless you visibly see a weapon. The Officer was not charged or disciplined much to my disappointment.
This swatting call came from California on a request from a gamer in Ohio because he thought the other player cheated and asked the young man in California to make the call. Tyler Barriss of California was charged with making 51 swatting calls using an app on his phone that doesn’t show the cellphone’s number. He received a 20-year sentence to a Federal prison. He lived in California at the time. He was caught once prior and was not permitted to have any computers or cellphones. When he decided to restart his illegal practice of swatting, he used computers in a library and then found an app he could use on a cellphone, which he did.
I hope I got my facts right. I have read several documents regarding many other swatters, so it wouldn’t be difficult to make a mistake. I wrote this as I remembered the facts from reports I had read. I remember Tyler Barriss when I worked for the PSP. He was very good at his trade of swatting. The FBI had attempted to find his phone number or computer access for months before being arrested a second time. They did track him to California and that’s when his name came up as a person of interest because of him being a previous swatter. In an interview with an Agent, he told the Agent swatting became like an addiction. I apologize for the length of the post.
Wichita Swatting
University Swatting
I saw a swatting playing out a few years ago on a YT live I was watching. It was just a lady talking to "us" (her viewers) like she did a few times a week. Coffee time, chat... it was lovely.
