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Casey Viner was sentenced to 15 months in prison and restricted from gaming activity for two years due to his involvement in the fatal Call of Duty swatting incident in 2017 (via NBC News).
‘Swatting’ is a prank phenomenon that will send a SWAT law enforcement unit to an unaware player while they are still in the game. The caller will falsely report an emergency at the address, so that an armed team will raid the house, as a joke or as a form of retaliation.
In 2017, 28 year old father of two Andrew Finch was killed by police after they believed there to be an ongoing hostage situation at the house. In Ohio, Viner was playing Call of Duty: WW2 against Wichita resident Shane Gaskill. Viner lost a $1.50 wager to Shane Gaskill, and Viner then recruited Barriss to target Gaskill. Gaskill gave them a previous address and taunted the two to ‘try something’. Barriss, who had an online reputation for ‘swatting’, called police from Los Angeles to falsely report a shooting and kidnapping at that Wichita address. Finch was shot by the police as he answered the door.
Barriss was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and Gaskill was charged as a co-conspirator as he gave the incorrect address and taunted the two men. But, according to the report, Gaskill has ‘struck a deal for deferred prosecution’, which would mean that the charges against him could be dropped. Currently, Finch’s family is suing the city of Wichita and the police officers involved in the incident.
Earlier this year, Viner pleaded guilty to felony charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice in order that he would avoid a prison sentence. In addition, Viner confirmed that after realising someone had lost their life to the swatting, he had covered up his involvement in the incident.
In August, Fortnite World Cup champion Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf was swatted while streaming the battle royale live on Twitch. Bugha said that he was ‘lucky’ that one of the police officers knew of his gaming career so the incident was resolved quickly and without complication.
