Call of Duty swatting suspect sentenced to prison after guilty plea

Fariha Bhatti Published 19/09/2019

A gamer who played a role in the 2017 swatting death of Andrew Finch has been sentenced to jail time.

Casey S. Viner, who enlisted Tyler Barriss to report a fake crime to police in Wichita, Kansas, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison. He pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice in April.

The incident began after an argument over a game of Call of Duty: WWII in December 2017.

Viner exchanged words with teammate Shane Gaskill over a case of friendly fire that resulted in a loss. This escalated when Viner threatened Gaskill with swatting. Viner then enlisted Barriss to make a call to police, with Barriss telling 911 that he had killed his father and was holding his family at gunpoint at an address provided by Gaskill.

The address given by Gaskill was one he previously lived at, but was no longer occupying.

Police rushed to the location and surrounded the building. Finch, who was entirely unrelated to the dispute between Viner and Gaskill, was shot on his doorstep by police. He was unarmed.

Viner was sentenced in federal court in Wichita after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy for arranging the swatting, and one count of obstructing justice. He is set to spend 15 months in an Ohio penitentiary in addition to two years of probation. He was also ordered to pay $2,500 in restitution, and is barred from playing video games during his probation.

Barriss pleaded guilty to 51 federal charges in November 2018. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for both this case, as well as an unrelated incident where he had made a fake bomb threat.

Gaskill is currently on deferred prosecution, which NBC states could lead to his charges being dropped.

Justin Rapp, the police officer who shot and killed Finch, has not faced any charges.

Fariha Bhatti

About Fariha Bhatti

Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.

View full profile

Read Also

Twitch

Kai Cenat Announces He’ll Sue Reggie — Is This the End of Clover Boys? Khizar Mundia Popular content group Clover Boys, which is associated with Kai Cenat, may be heading for a breakup after members started leaving following drama between Cenat and Reggie. Reginald “Reggie” Travers made several very public accusations against Kai Cenat and other members of Clover Boys on September 26. Cenat initially stayed away from the drama, but other creators soon began reacting to the controversy online. Reggie then made further serious allegations ...

Esports Betting

WSCI Grand Finals: Solary vs T1 Esports Academy bets and predictions Wasif Ahmed After two weeks of competition, the World Star Challengers Invitational reaches its pinnacle as Solary faces T1 Esports Academy in the grand finals of the event. Solary has dominated DN Soopers Challengers in their semifinals, while T1 Academy made quick work of Galions. It’s now a battle at the top between the juggernauts of the LFL and of the LCK Challenger League. Here are our predictions for the WSCI grand ...

News

The Social Reckoning: Will Sequel Live up to the Original? Zachary Roberts The Social Reckoning is going to come out next weekend, the long-awaited follow-up to 2010's The Social Network, the Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg biopic. That is largely hailed as a masterpiece and considered one of the best biopics ever. But can the sequel match up? Kalshi traders are not convinced according to the current implied probability at the prediction market. Legacy sequels are hard, especially when the original movie is ...

Twitch

Lacy Turns Off Twitch Ads — Here’s What the Streamer Has To Say Khizar Mundia Nick “Lacy” Fosco announced in a recent Twitch stream that he wants his viewers to enjoy his content and is turning off ads from all his future broadcasts. Lacy was last in the limelight when he announced that he was leaving CORE, the streamer organization that was primarily comprising the ex-FaZe boys. He then hosted a gaming marathon with Marlon “Mar3lg” Lundgren Garcia in September, and now Lacy is going ...

Twitch

Dan Clancy Reveals Twitch Uses AI To Link Streamers With Brands Khizar Mundia Ad revenue is a major contributor to a streamer’s overall earnings, and Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has explained how the platform is using AI to match brands to creators. Advertising is a major part of Twitch’s business, but the platform also needs to ensure creators meet brands’ suitability criteria. Clancy discussed how Twitch uses AI to identify suitable creators and flag those who don’t match a brand’s requirements during a ...

Twitch

Will Kai Cenat Grow His Twitch Subscribers in the Remainder of 2026? Khizar Mundia Twitch streamer Kai Cenat is one of the most popular personalities on the platform, with his number of followers climbing with every new event that he announces. However, his subscriber numbers have been less straightforward. The American went on an unexpected break after shattering Twitch subscriber records with his Mafiathon 3, but eventually returned with Streamer University 2026. The creator did become the most-subscribed Twitch streamer after his return, but ...

Dota 2

Yandex to repeat?: BLAST SLAM VIII preview, predictions, and more Michael Hassall If you can believe it, we’re already on the eighth edition of BLAST SLAM, as BLAST SLAM VIII kicks off tomorrow (Sep. 29) pitting 16 of the world’s best Dota 2 teams against each other in what promises to be the first big challenge of this young season. Let’s face it: At PGL Wallachia, we were missing a lot of the heavy hitters. No TI15 champs, no PARIVISION, not BetBoom, ...