Killed over a sub-$2 bet by two other people.
On the evening of December 28, a 28-year old Kansas Man was shot by the police. This was, in fact, due to a SWATting, and a randomly selected address.
According to what info can be gathered, it was all over an incredibly low stakes ($1.50. Yes, really) bet in Call of Duty. The bet led to an incident between two users, Twitter handles @SWauTistic and @7aLeNT. @SWauTistic (the hired gun in this) threatens to sic SWAT on @7aLeNT; @7aLeNT provides a false address. Shortly thereafter, @SWauTistic calls in the false report, sending police to the home of the aforementioned Kansas Man, Andrew Finch. As Finch came to answer the door, one of the officers, a seven-year veteran of the force, shot and killed Finch. Little of the particulars of the incident are actually known. It is, however, still under investigation.
The 911 call.
The police briefing from today.
What is known, however, are a few choice details regarding @SWauTistic. He quickly changed his Twitter name to @GoredTutor36 and deleted a chunk of his posting history, as well as starting an alt account @MessierObject26. But not before KrebsOnSecurity got several weeks worth of his tweets. Including this choice screenshot from before his deletion spree.
Among other tweets of his, he’s taken credit for: a false bomb threat that disrupted the vote on Net Neutrality, the bomb threat that forced the evacuation of the Dallas Convention Center, the bomb threat against Arnold High School in Tampa, Florida, as well as a number of other bomb threats, as well as SWATtings done for pay.
After tweeting about the incident extensively this afternoon, KrebsOnSecurity was contacted by someone in control of the @GoredTutor36 Twitter account. GoredTutor36 said he’s been the victim of swatting attempts himself, and that this was the reason he decided to start swatting others.
He said the thrill of it “comes from having to hide from police via net connections.” Asked about the FCC incident, @GoredTutor36 acknowledged it was his bomb threat. “Yep. Raped em,” he wrote.
“Bomb threats are more fun and cooler than swats in my opinion and I should have just stuck to that,” he wrote. “But I began making $ doing some swat requests.”
Asked whether he feels remorse about the Kansas man’s death, he responded “of course I do.”
But evidently not enough to make him turn himself in.
“I won’t disclose my identity until it happens on its own,” the user said in a long series of direct messages on Twitter. “People will eventually (most likely those who know me) tell me to turn myself in or something. I can’t do that; though I know its [sic] morally right. I’m too scared admittedly.”
Revolting.
Speculation
While SWATtings have been going on since at least 2013, this is the first (that I can find) on record to result in someone’s death by police, surprisingly. Which makes this something of a turning point; the consequences are no longer just the (considerable) price of rolling out a SWAT team for a false alarm. This is probably the point at which people responsible are going to be facing far more in the way of charges. SWATting is not yet considered a felony in several states, but this might be what leads to that changing. And it may be that those who call in a fake SWAT strike that results in a death may be charged with Felony Murder. Considering his love of bomb threats, though, @SWauTistic/@GoredTutor36 is probably going to really enjoy his time in a federal “Pound-Me-In-The-Ass” prison when they catch him. Because if there’s one thing the alphabet soup agencies love, it’s someone calling in fake bomb threats.
It wouldn’t be unreasonable to imagine that there’s going to be an example made here. One that, hopefully, curtails a lot of the SWATting that’s been going on over the past few years.
Edit: cleaned up some details.
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