The Call of Duty player whose 2017 swatting call resulted in an innocent man’s death is now facing sentencing in federal court, where he is seeking a sentence of 20 to 25 years in federal prison — the shortest term allowed by his plea deal.
To recap the story so far, in December of 2017, the player — California resident Tyler Barriss — made a false call to Wichita police in which he reported a shooting and kidnapping in progress at what he believed to be the address of a rival CoD player. The address was in fact that of 28-year-old father of two Andrew Finch, who was fatally shot by the police officer who responded to the call. Barriss was charged with involuntary manslaughter — and subsequently with a number of additional charges, for a total of 51 — to which he pled guilty.
In his attempts to secure the shortest possible prison term, Barriss’s attorney “argued in a sentencing memorandum that Barriss never intended for anyone to get hurt and his conduct was an outgrowth of the culture within the gaming community.” Barriss’s sentence will be handed down Friday, after which he will face additional state charges in Kansas.
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