Argument over Call of Duty wager leads to death of innocent man in “swatting” incident

A fake “swatting” call has left a 28-year-old man from Kansas dead after being accidentally shot by police. This whole tragic incident apparently stemmed from a $1.50 Call of Duty wager dispute.

Thursday night, authorities responded to a call that indicated there was a possible homicide and hostage situation at the victim’s—identified as Andrew Finch—home in Wichita (via The Wichita Eagle 1, 2). Upon coming to the front door, an officer fired his weapon, injuring Finch who was later pronounced dead at the hospital. His mother spoke with the local news in a video that can be viewed here.

“It was a shooting call involving hostages,” said Deputy Police Chief Troy Livingston. “The original call, we were told someone had an argument with their mother and dad was accidentally shot. And now that person was holding mother, brother and sister hostage. We learned through that call that a father was deceased, and had been shot in the head. That was the information we were working off of.”

The officer will be placed on paid administrative leave, per department policy, as the incident is investigated.

Swatting, for those who don’t know, is a “prank” where someone calls the police department claiming a serious crime is going on at someone else’s house. The idea is that if that person is livestreaming a video game over Twitch, viewers will then see a SWAT team or police officers break into their home and arrest them. It’s a notorious internet hoax that most people despise, but a few people don’t think about the consequences of their actions. In this case, an innocent man was killed.

Dexerto reports that the Call of Duty community uncovered what lead to this tragedy. Two Call of Duty players got into a dispute over a $1.50 wager on UMG’s wager platform online. One player then sent over an incorrect address that lead police to Finch’s house, though he was not involved in the argument.

Professional Call of Duty players on Twitter have attempted to explain the situation themselves (via CharlieINTEL).

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