By Matt Agorist
Wichita, KS – In December, police responded to a prank call, also known as a “swatting,” at the home of Andrew Finch. When the entirely innocent and unarmed Finch answered the door during the raid, an unnamed officer was recorded on video killing him in cold blood. Now, as the coverage has died down in the press, and as TFTP accurately predicted in January, the Wichita District Attorney announced that there will be no charges.
According to Kansascity.com, on Thursday, District Attorney Marc Bennett said he had to make a determination based on Kansas law and law handed down by the Supreme Court, which says that when determining if an officer acted reasonably, evidence has to be reviewed based on what the officer knew at the time of the shooting, not 20/20 hindsight, he said. The DA’s office also stated that they will keep the officer’s name a secret because he will not be charged. During a press conference on Thursday, the Wichita police department released multiple other body cameras showing the summary execution of Finch.
Those videos are below.
As TFTP reported at the time, Finch, 28, was shot and killed for the crime of opening his front door when a slew of SWAT team members arrived at his home and claimed that he “reached towards his waistband,” possibly preparing to retrieve a weapon. However, the father of two was unarmed, and the reason officers were at this house had nothing to do with him. Finch was shot 10 seconds after he opened the door. “Shots fired. One Down. Confirming. It’s the suspect?” dispatch asks. “Don’t know,” a WPD sergeant responds, according to a report released by Bennett.
The 911 call was placed by Tyler Barriss, 25, a man who had never met Finch and who lived nearly 1,400 miles away in Los Angeles, California. Barriss has a history of “swatting,” or calling 911 to file a false report about a fake emergency that includes murder or hostages, prompting the deployment of a SWAT Team.
While the FBI claims that around 400 swatting incidents occur each year, reports claim that Barriss has made a significant contribution and has spent time in jail for making fake bomb threats. In fact, Barriss even went by the username “SWAuTistic” online. He made a call to police on Dec. 28 claiming that he had just murdered his father, and was holding his mother and brother at gunpoint, after covering the house in gasoline with the intent to set it on fire. Barriss used Finch’s residence, which had been given out during an argument on a Call of Duty game online that neither Barriss, nor Finch, were involved with directly.
Despite the fact that police should have been able to see that Barriss was not located in the state of Kansas when he made the call, they took his claims seriously and deployed a SWAT team to the residence. Barriss was arrested on a felony warrant shortly after police killed Finch. He has since been charged with involuntary manslaughter for Finch’s death, giving false alarm, and interfering with law enforcement. What about the officer who pulled the trigger?
All of the attention surrounding the fact that this shooting resulted from a “swatting” prank has covered up the fact that the shooting itself was carried out by a police officer who shot and killed an innocent, unarmed father. The family’s attorney, Andrew M. Stroth, who has since file a civil rights lawsuit against the police department said it was a difficult call to make to tell the family of Finch that the officer who took their father and son’s life won’t be charged.
“When we received the information from the district attorney, I called Lisa (Finch’s mother) and told her the decision,” said Stroth. “The family’s devastated and the family is disappointed by the decision of the district attorney today,” he said.
The murder of Andrew Finch was tragic, and while Tyler Barriss should be held accountable for his actions, that should not take away from the fact that a police officer shot and killed a man who never once put threatened their lives or tried to hurt them. Not to mention the fact that he opened fire on a house when he believed there were family members inside.
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The one who presses the trigger, the one who physically does this, is ALWAYS the one who's the most guilty.
I read this in FO yesterday and am still outraged, as I'm sure Mr. Finch's family is. "Swatting" is no excuse to take a man's life. Violent force is ALWAYS supposed to be the last resort- lamentably, it is now the first it seems. I know that it's little consolation, but I hope the Finch family sues the crap out of the City of Wichita.
yeah...well said, there better be a lawsuit. This is another one of those cases where they try to place responsibility on someone else for their own actions. Sure, the kid who made the call should be charged with something, but so should the cop.
Absolutely! And you made another good point about the cops having to have seen that the call came from somewhere outside of Kansas (or Missouri- KC covers both). They're just trying to shift blame away from the cop... there's no excuse to shoot an unarmed man. Worst case scenario... the guy was reaching for a gun- the cop had his trained on the guy already. He had plenty of time to discern whether or not the guy was coming out with a weapon before firing.
I've shot people and believe me had that cop hit him once AFTER seeing a gun, it would have stopped him.
For any of you who feel the police are here for your safety, you might have another thing coming. Even though, I would guess even the police themselves don’t know it, that they are gangsters trained to protect the elite’s wealth and to put us into a constant state of fear. So to keep us from rising up and coming together. Thus keeping us from making the changes necessary to free us from the grips of the elite. Look into your own heart and not your mind for the answers to help save humanity.
Im going to find a place where there are no police, its going to get worse. Id rather deal with a couple of sheriffs than a whole army of blue shirts.....
Rule by force is the disease, who and how are symptoms.
Shoot First Ask Questions Later. This seems to be the MO of Police in America today. We have got to pass laws that prevent Police from opening fire on people, without one hell of a good reason, like they are shooting at you. I would like to see a law that says Police can not shoot unless someone is actually shooting at them. This hand near the waistband shit has got to stop. Dylan Noble was shot at point blank with a 12ga, after he was already shot and on the ground, why, oh because his hand was by his waist band.
If you are standing normal, your hands are near or below your waist. if you are told to raise your hands, they must go by the waist on the way up.
Hope no other countries come and bomb us for shooting our own people. Police State is out of hand.
Better win big in the civil lawsuit all I got to say and hope the idiot who made the call gets life he doesn't deserve to be out in public. And they better take away his phone privileges in prison or else he gone keep doing what he does.