WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on officer shooting, killing man while investigating false report (all times local):
5 p.m.
Police in Wichita, Kansas, say a prankster who lured police to a home in a “swatting” incident is responsible for a fatal officer-involved shooting.
A 28-year-old man was fatally shot by an officer Thursday. Relatives have identified him as Andrew Finch.
Deputy Police Chief Troy Livingston said at a news conference Friday that a prankster called 911 claiming to be an occupant of the home, saying he had shot his father and was holding his mother and a sibling hostage.
When police showed up, Finch went to the front door. Livingston says that when Finch reached toward his waistband, an officer feared he had a gun and shot him.
Livingston says Finch was unarmed and no one in the house was hurt.
The practice of making a false report to get a SWAT team to a location is known as “swatting.” It is most common among online gamers, but relatives say Finch was not a gamer.
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3:20 p.m.
The FBI is investigating the fatal police-involved shooting of a man in Wichita, Kansas.
A supervisor at the FBI office in Kansas City, Missouri, confirmed Friday that agents have been asked to join the investigation into the death of 28-year-old Andrew Finch. She declined further comment.
Authorities are investigating whether the shooting on Thursday stemmed from someone making up a false report to get a SWAT team to descend upon Finch’s home. The practice known as “swatting” is more common among online gamers.
Police say they were misled by a call indicating a homicide and hostage situation at the home. Finch was shot by an officer when he opened the door of the family home. His mother told the Wichita Eagle that her son was unarmed.
A spokeswoman says a company that runs online gaming tournaments is assisting authorities. UMG Gaming operates online gaming tournaments, including one for the Call of Duty game.
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1:40 p.m.
A spokeswoman says a company that runs online gaming tournaments is assisting authorities as they investigate the fatal shooting by a police officer of a Kansas man.
UMG Gaming operates online gaming tournaments, including one for the Call of Duty game.
UMG Vice President Shannon Gerritzen said in an email that the company is “doing everything we can to assist the authorities.”
Authorities are investigating whether the shooting of 28-year-old Andrew Finch in Wichita stemmed from someone making up a false report to get a SWAT team to descend upon a home. The practice known as “swatting” is more common among online gamers.
Police have said they were called to Finch’s home Thursday by a false report of a homicide and hostage situation and an officer shot him.
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1:15 p.m.
The mother of a Kansas man killed by police responding to a false report of a homicide and hostage situation says her son was “murdered.”
Lisa Finch told The Wichita Eagle that her son, Andrew Finch, was unarmed when he opened the door to the family’s home Thursday night after hearing something. She said he screamed and was shot. She said the family then was forced outside barefoot in freezing cold and that her granddaughter was forced to step over her dying uncle.
Police are investigating whether the call that led police to the home was a so-called “swatting” prank in which someone makes up a false report to get a SWAT team to descend upon a home. It’s more common among online gamers, although Lisa Finch says he didn’t play video games.
12:30 p.m.
A relative has identified a man shot and killed by a police officer investigating a false report of a homicide and hostage situation in Kansas.
Madeline Finch says the man killed Thursday in a Wichita home was her nephew, Andrew Finch. She said the family was “saddened” but declined to comment further. Police are investigating whether the call that led police to the home was a so-called “swatting” prank in which someone makes up a false report to get a SWAT team to descend upon a home.
Deputy Police Chief Troy Livingston says a 28-year-old man was shot as he came to the front door. Livingston didn’t say what caused the officer to shoot the man or whether he was armed. No one else was wounded in the home.
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SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal officer involved shooting.
Just before 6:30 p.m. Thursday, police responded to a call of a shooting involving hostages in the 1000 block of McCormick in Wichita, according to Deputy Chief Troy Livingston.
The original call indicated an argument with a mother and that the dad was accidentally shot in the head and dead, according to Livingston. The shooter was then holding other family members hostage. Based on that information, police arrived to work a hostage situation.
When police arrived, a man came to the front door of the residence and an officer fired. The 28-year-old man was transported to a local hospital. He was pronounced dead just after 7p.m., according to Livingston.
Police are interviewing family members and worked to process the scene through the night. Despite what police were originally told, there were no other injuries and nobody dead inside the residence, according to Livingston.
The officer involved in the shooting is a 7-year veteran of Wichita police, according to Livingston.
Police are expected to released additional details later Friday.