Instigator of fatal Kansas swatting receives prison sentence

Enlarge / A police SWAT Team at work. (credit: Onfokus | Getty Images)

The teenager who arranged for someone else to phone in a prank police call that resulted in a man's death is going to prison.

Casey Viner, now 19, will serve 15 months in prison and pay $2,500 restitution, the US District Attorney for Kansas said. After release, Viner will also be barred from online gaming for a period of two years.

Viner admitted in court that in 2017 he argued with a co-defendant, Shane Gaskill, while playing Call of Duty online. He then contacted a third person, Tyler Barriss, and asked him to swat Gaskill. Viner, however, had an incorrect address for Gaskill, and Barriss instead sent a swat team to the house of 28-year-old Andrew Finch, who was then shot and killed by police.

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