The suspect named responsible in a deadly swatting prank has a history of making threatening prank calls – and revealed he previously did so for bets.
Tyler Barriss, 25, who was charged with involuntary manslaughter Friday after the hoax emergency call led to the fatal SWAT team shooting of Andrew Finch, 28, in Kansas, spoke from jail about the serious matter.
‘It hasn’t just affected my life. It’s affected, you know, someone’s family too. Someone lost their life,’ Barriss said in the new interview, as seen on KABC-TV.
Barriss revealed he made the fake 911 calls ‘on numerous occasions’ in the past and was paid to do so – but claimed there was no motive behind the horrific December 28 incident.
Tyler Barriss is shown making his first court appearance via video from jail before Sedgwick County District Court judge Faith Maughan on Friday, Jan. 12, 2018
Barriss (left) is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal Wichita, Kansas swatting case that took the life of Andrew Finch, 28 (right)
‘There’s no inspiration… I don’t just get bored and sit around and decide that I’m going to make a SWAT call,’ Barriss said.
The Thursday before the new year, Barris, who was located in Los Angeles at the time, California, made the emergency call to police in Wichita, Kansas.
He concocted a story to a dispatcher about a domestic kidnapping and shooting and informed he had ‘shot his father in the head and was holding his mother and a sibling at gunpoint,’ according to the news station.
Barriss also said in the startling call he was getting ready to set the house on fire – which immediately provoked a SWAT team to the random address provided by the suspect, where victim Finch resided.
A frame grab from the Wichita Police Department’s release Friday, Dec. 29, 2017, of some body cam footage of the fatal shooting of Andrew Finch, 29, by a Wichita police officer
The victim who is pictured was unarmed during the incident, but was shot by a police officer who believed he was pulling out a gun
In video footage from the scene, a police officer is heard shouting at Finch: ‘Show your hands!’ and ‘walk this way!’
Finch complied to the confusing orders, but at one point he seemingly moved his hand toward his waist, when an officer believed he may have pulled a weapon out.
Instantly, an officer opened fire and shot Finch once. He was transported to the hospital where he sadly died.
The heartbroken mother to father-of-two Finch, Lisa Finch, said her son was unarmed during the incident she said was ‘murder’.
This Dec. 29, 2017 photo shows Lisa Finch, surrounded by family members reacting to the killing of her son Andrew Finch after he was shot by police at his home
‘I understand the magnitude of what happened,’ Barriss added from jail.
‘I never intended for anyone to get shot and killed. I just wish I could have re-wound somehow, you know, and just never done it.’
Just six days before the deadly December 28 call, Barriss also made a prank call to police in n Calgary, Canada, according to KABC-TV.
Shockingly enough, the suspect was convicted in October 2015 after he called the news station and made a bomb threat.
Barriss appears in court for his extradition hearing in Los Angeles, California U.S. January 3, 2018
While Barriss claims there was no motive for the Kansas swatting prank, investigators believe Barriss may have been involved in a $2 dispute over the video game, Call of Duty.
Barriss’ bond was set at $500,000. If convicted, he could face 11 years behind bars.
It’s currently unclear as to whether the police officer who fatally shot the victim will face charges.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said in court that further investigation will determine the outcome.
‘There is no other situation quite like this to reference… I am not going to stand right here and say I am not considering anything else. That would be untrue.’