Erstes Todesopfer durch SWATting

«Swatting» ist, wenn jemand die Polizei anruft, eine Geiselnahme oder sowas beim Haus seines Opfers meldet und dann das SWAT-Team da mit Panzer vorfährt und die Tür eintritt. Nun wurde in Kansas ein 28-jähriger Mann nach einem Prank-Call eines Swatters von der Polizei erschossen. Dürfte nicht das erste «Trolling mit Todesfolge» sein, aber wohl eins der symbolträchtigsten. Der mutmassliche Täter, ein 25-jähriger Typ aus Los Angeles, wurde verhaftet. Eine ganz widerwärtige Geschichte.

This particular swatting reportedly originated over a $1.50 wagered match in the online game Call of Duty. Compounding the tragedy is that the man killed was an innocent party who had no part in the dispute. […]

It appears that the dispute and subsequent taunting originated on Twitter. One of the parties to that dispute — allegedly using the Twitter handle “SWauTistic” — threatened to swat another user who goes by the nickname “7aLeNT“. @7aLeNT dared someone to swat him, but then tweeted an address that was not his own. […] A story in the Wichita Eagle says officers responded to the 1000 block of McCormick and got into position, preparing for a hostage situation. “A male came to the front door,” Livingston said. “As he came to the front door, one of our officers discharged his weapon.” […]

Not long after that, Swautistic was back on Twitter saying he could see on television that the police had fallen for his swatting attack. When it became apparent that a man had been killed as a result of the swatting, Swautistic tweeted that he didn’t get anyone killed because he didn’t pull the trigger (see image above). Swautistic soon changed his Twitter handle to @GoredTutor36, but KrebsOnSecurity managed to obtain several weeks’ worth of tweets from Swautistic before his account was renamed. Those tweets indicate that Swautistic is a serial swatter — meaning he has claimed responsibility for a number of other recent false reports to the police.

Among the recent hoaxes he’s taken credit for include a false report of a bomb threat at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that disrupted a high-profile public meeting on the net neutrality debate. Swautistic also has claimed responsibility for a hoax bomb threat that forced the evacuation of the Dallas Convention Center, and another bomb threat at a high school in Panama City, Fla, among others. […]

He said the thrill of it “comes from having to hide from police via net connections.” Asked about the FCC incident, @GoredTutor36 acknowledged it was his bomb threat. “Yep. Raped em,” he wrote. “Bomb threats are more fun and cooler than swats in my opinion and I should have just stuck to that,” he wrote. “But I began making $ doing some swat requests.”