A US man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for making a hoax 911 call that led to police shooting an innocent man dead.

Tyler Barriss, 26, told emergency services he had fatally shot his father and was holding the rest of his family hostage as part of a "swatting" prank.

Swatting is a form of retaliation which involves falsely reporting a crime so that a massive police response - often involving SWAT teams - is sent to a target's home.

Andrew Finch - from Wichita, Kansas - was killed after SWAT teams descended on his house.

The officer who shot the unarmed 28-year-old said he thought he was reaching for a gun because he moved a hand towards his waistband.


Barriss pleaded guilty in November to a total of 51 federal charges related to fake calls and threats, including a number of bomb hoaxes made to the FBI headquarters, schools and television stations.

The hoax caller admitted calling police from Los Angeles to falsely report a shooting and kidnapping at Mr Finch's Wichita address.

Image: Andrew Finch was shot dead by police after SWAT teams arrived at his home

Authorities said Barriss had been recruited to "swat" the address by Ohio gamer Casey Viner, 19, over a $1.50 (£1.15) bet on the Call of Duty: WWII video game.

The intended target was Wichita gamer Shane Gaskill, 20, but the address given was old - leading police to the home of Mr Finch.

Gaskill had contacted Barriss after seeing he was following him on Twitter and provided him with the old address, taunting him to "try something".

The family of Mr Finch said he was not involved in online gaming.

Viner and Gaskill have been charged as co-conspirators and pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice and wire fraud, among other counts.

The unnamed officer who shot Mr Finch has not been charged.

Swatting was recognised as an emerging threat as early as 2008, having been used commonly among gamers.