A 25-year-old man has been arrested over an alleged hoax phone call that led to police fatally shooting an innocent man.
Authorities say the hoax call was a case of “swatting”, or a prank in which someone falsely reports a serious crime to get police or a SWAT team to turn up at another person’s address.
In the prank 911 call, Barriss claimed that his father was accidentally shot in the head and his brother, sister, and mother were held hostage, according to Wichita police Deputy Chief Troy Livingston.
But the address he gave was the home of 28-year-old Andrew Finch, who police say was not involved in the dispute.
Finch opened his door when police officers arrived at his home on the evening of Thursday, Dec. 28. He moved a hand towards his waistband as officers told him to put his hands up. An officer thought Finch was reaching for a gun, and fired a single shot that turned out to be fatal.
Finch died minutes later at a hospital and was found unarmed, according to Livingston.
The mother of the victim, Lisa Finch, told reporters that her son was not a gamer.
The police officer who fired the shot is a seven-year veteran and is on paid leave, which is a department policy, Fox News reported.
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