NEWS RANT: Swatter charged and bail set, my opinion.

OK so I meant to talk about this back when it happened but I don't think I did. I am sure I have made it very plain that I don't really like online competitive games like shooters and such. I like playing first person shooters dont get me wrong but online you just end up being surrounded by pricks, people screaming at you telling you that they are going to screw your sister, accusing you of cheating if you do well, telling you that you suck if your doing poorly, basically I game to get away from pricks and hassle and escape into another world so I am not going to spend that time with screaming idiots. I have played online with friends before on things like Halo 3 and Gears of War and had a great time but playing with random people is just not my jam at all.

I didn't think the whole online competitive crap could get any worse and then people started doing something called swatting. OK so basically people decided that it would be a good idea to call the police on opponents/other people playing a video game in the hope the police would think the gun noises etc were noises of some kind of violence and bust in there.It is a deeply messed up thing to do as not only does it put the person whose address has been given to the police in danger it also wastes the time of various emergency service. When the police are answering a fake call they are taken away from doing actual police work, from stopping real crimes.

Well towards the end of December a 28-year-old man was shot and killed by a US police officer after the police arrived at a reported hostage situation. At a press conference the police said it was a false call meant to draw SWAT officers to the scene and that it appeared to have been linked to an argument over Call of Duty. Well today the Swatter (the person who made the fake call) Twenty-five-year-old Tyler Barriss was charged in the US state of Kansas for involuntary manslaughter and two other counts because of his call that led to a police man killing an unarmed 28-year-old. The maximum sentence varies but if found guilty, Barriss could face a hefty fine and years in prison.

Police say that Barriss had called police to report a hostage situation, telling officers on 28 December 2017 that he had his family at gunpoint and had doused the house with gasoline. He then gave them an address for 28-year-old Andrew Finch, who was shot and killed by an officer when he answered the door. That officer is now on paid administrative leave. I don't know what caused the officer to shoot so I cant comment on if he jumped the gun or not but I am sure that this will have unfortunately greatly effected and continue to effect the officers life and career.

Barriss reportedly made the call after an argument between two Call of Duty players led to one giving the other an address. That player then reportedly gave the address to Barriss, who was known in the community for swatting. The address turned out to be unrelated to anyone involved with the dispute, however, and instead led police to Finch and ultimately lead to his death.

Barriss was also charged with giving false alarm and interference with law enforcement. His bond is set at $500,000 (£364,100) which is pretty darn high so I guess he is going to be sitting in jail unable to pay it. There are a few questions I have one of which is will the guy who gave Barriss the address be done for anything? I mean if I told a nutter I knew would burn down a house the address for a good house he could burn wouldn't I be at least partially guilty if anyone died in the fire? The guy who gave out the random address I also hope at the very least realizes the part he has played in someones death and feels bad about it, I mean there was no reason for him to give any address at all. Its all a very very sad situation which makes me feel bad in general. I guess I hope that this guy gets nailed to the wall and it encourages other people to stop and think before being dicks but I don't really see that happening, I think whatever happens people will still scream and shout and threaten each other online.