On Wednesday, Los Angeles prosecutors filed a warrant aimed at sending Tyler Barriss, 25, the California man suspected of swatting Finch, to Sedgwick County, Kansas, to face a felony false alarm charge.
Swatting is the act of making a false police report -- usually of an urgent or violent crime -- to lure law enforcement or SWAT teams to a location.
Barriss waived extradition at his hearing. Wearing a dark hoodie, he spoke sparsely, providing only brief responses to a judge's questions.
He will remain in a Los Angeles jail without bail. Kansas authorities will transport him to Wichita between January 17 and February 2.
A 28-year-old was shot and killed by police after officers were called to his Wichita, Kansas house in a "SWATing" prank, police said. SWATing is when officers are told people are being held hostage at a location.
The officer who fired the shot - a seven-year veteran of the police department - will be placed on administrative paid leave, which is department policy.
According to a 911 call Wichita police released, a man said there was "an agrument with my mom and dad" and gave an address. On the call, the man said he had shot his father. The caller said he was holding a gun up to keep his mother and younger brother in the closet.
When police arrived at the house, Andrew Finch answered the door before being fatally shot by officers, Wichita Deputy Police Chief Troy Livingston said. According to KWCH, Livingston said the department's thoughts and prayers are with Finch's family and with the WPD officer who fatally shot him.
The FBI estimates that roughly 400 cases of swatting occur annually, with some using caller ID spoofing to disguise their number. An FBI supervisor in Kansas City, Missouri, which covers all of Kansas, said the agency joined in the investigation at the request of local police.
Barriss has a history of making bogus calls to authorities. He was released from the Los Angeles County jail last year after serving less than half of a two-year and eight month sentence for phoning in two fake bomb threats in 2015 that cleared out the KABC-TV studio in nearby Glendale.
Glendale police who investigated the bomb scare found about 20 other incidents where Barriss had phoned in threats to universities and media outlets around the country, Sgt. Dan Suttles said Wednesday. The FBI assisted those investigations, but deferred to state prosecutors, spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.
Barriss has been charged in Kansas with making a false alarm, according to court papers. The charge for calling police or a fire department and knowingly giving false information is a low-level felony in Kansas that carries a maximum of 34 months in prison.
Other charges could be filed after Wichita prosecutors review the results of a police investigation.
A more serious potential state charge would be second-degree murder for unintentionally causing a death by reckless actions, said Elizabeth Cateforis, a law professor at the University of Kansas. That can carry a sentence of up to about 20 years.
Another option may be an involuntary manslaughter charge in which a death is caused by a person acting recklessly or in the commission of another felony. That carries a maximum sentence of a little over 10 years.
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