A police officer in Wichita, Kan., fatally shot a man while responding to an emergency call that authorities now say was a tragic and senseless prank.
The 28-year-old man, who officials did not immediately identify, was killed around 6:20 p.m. on Thursday night after police responded to a report that there had been a shooting and hostages taken at the house, Deputy Wichita Police Chief Troy Livingston said at a Friday afternoon news conference.
“Due to the actions of a prankster, we have an innocent victim,” Livingston said, calling it a case of “swatting.”
Swatting, which has a long history in the online gaming world, refers to the practice of making an emergency call about a fake situation often involving a killing or hostages, in the hopes of sending police to the address of an adversary or random person.
In an interview with the Wichita Eagle, the slain man’s family identified him as Andrew Finch, a father of two, and said that he was not armed.
“I heard my son scream, I got up and then I heard a shot,” his mother, Lisa Finch, told reporters on Friday.
“What gives the cops the right to open fire?” Finch said. “Why didn’t they give him the same warning they gave us? That cop murdered my son over a false report.”
The officer who fired the fatal shot, a seven-year veteran of the force, has been placed on paid administrative leave, which is department policy.
Police are now investigating the circumstances of the call.
The suspect, who first called the security desk at Wichita City Hall, told a 911 operator that he had accidentally shot his father and was pointing a gun at his mother and brother.
“They were arguing and I shot him in the head and he’s not breathing anymore,” the caller said.
The individual later threatened to set the house on fire, then asked the operator, “Do you have my address correct?”
The victim emerged from the house after police arrived. Livingston said police officers repeatedly told him to put his hands up, and one shot when he believed the man was reaching for a weapon. Police confirmed that the victim was not armed.
The officers did not find anyone who had been taken hostage at the location, nor any deceased victims. The family members were handcuffed and taken in police cruisers to be interviewed by officers at a station, the Eagle reported.
“The police said, ‘Come out with your hands up,’ ” Lisa Finch told the Eagle. “(The officer) took me, my roommate and my granddaughter, who witnessed the shooting and had to step over her dying uncle’s body.”
The man was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead at 7 p.m, Livingston said, adding that the suspect continued to call 911 after officers had already arrived at the scene.