Wichitan involved in deadly swatting arrested after reportedly doing donuts in Old Town
A 25-year-old Wichita man who was recently released from prison after serving a sentence for his involvement in the 2017 fatal swatting call that claimed the life of Andrew Finch is in more trouble after he was arrested for reportedly doing donuts in Old Town early Sunday morning.
Shane Michael Gaskill, who was released from federal prison in October, was arrested and booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on Sunday and released on an own-recognizance bond after police were first called at 2:08 a.m. about traffic violations at First and Mosley, authorities said.
Gaskill was doing donuts, or burning out, in the roadway in a 2010 Dodge Challenger, according to police. No one else was in the vehicle, authorities said.
Gaskill is still serving three years of post-release supervision, ordered as part of the sentence imposed for his role in the events that led to the police killing of 28-year-old Andrew Finch on Dec. 28, 2017. A spokesperson for U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services said police alerted them of Gaskill’s arrest and that the judge presiding over the case has been informed as well. It will be up to U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren to decide whether Gaskill’s arrest violates the conditions of his post-release supervision and whether he might face any additional punishment, the spokesperson said.
Gaskill was charged Tuesday in Wichita Municipal Court with one count of racing and sideshow and one count of impeding traffic flow, court records show. He is due in court for an arraignment on April 22.
An attorney who defended Gaskill when he was federally prosecuted in connection with the swatting said he is no longer “representing Mr. Gaskill and (has) no comment.”
Gaskill was one of three men prosecuted for their roles in the deadly swatting, which made national headlines. Ohio resident Casey Viner and Tyler Barriss of California were also charged. Viner was sentenced in 2019 to 15 months in prison and two years of supervised release after pleading guilty to counts of conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
Barriss, who pleaded guilty in 2019, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for 51 counts associated with the Wichita swatting and other hoax calls around the U.S., including at the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission headquarters in Washington, D.C. The 31-year-old has a release date of April 4, 2035, and is currently housed at the federal correctional institution in Herlong, California, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons’ website.
Initially, Gaskill was placed on diversion for his role in the swatting, but he was ultimately removed from the program after failing to meet its requirements, including obtaining a high-school equivalency or GED, The Eagle previously reported. Had Gaskill successfully completed diversion, prosecutors would have dropped his charges.
He was sentenced in September 2022 to 18 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud. Gaskill was released from the incarceration portion of his sentence on Oct. 23, 2023, the BOP website says.
The swatting resulted in the death of Finch, an innocent man fatally shot by a Wichita police officer who responded to his home at 1033 W. McCormick after Barriss made a fake emergency call about homicide and ongoing hostage situation at the address.
It started when Gaskill got into an online spat with Viner as the two played a $1.50 online wager match of Call of Duty World War II. Viner contacted Barriss — well known in the online gaming community for past swatting antics — and asked him to swat Gaskill in retaliation for Gaskill posting his family’s personal information online.
Gaskill provided an old address — 1033 W. McCormick — and dared Barriss to “try something,” prosecutors have said.
Barriss then called the Wichita police security desk at City Hall using a spoofed number that made the call appear local and said that he had just killed his father and was holding other family members hostage. Police descended on 1033 W. McCormick, believing the call was real.
Finch was fatally shot by Wichita Officer Justin Rapp, now a detective. Rapp fired a single round from across the street as Finch stepped onto his front porch to see why there were emergency lights outside his home.
Swatting is a common form of online taunting where a person reports a fake emergency serious enough to draw a law enforcement response — especially a special weapons and tactics, or SWAT, team — to the address of an individual they want to embarrass or harass. It has gained traction among online gamers in recent years.
Prosecutors believe Finch’s death was the first deadly swatting case in history. His family received a $5 million settlement from the city in March 2023.
Contributing: Amy Renee Leiker with The Eagle
Swatting victim’s family blames two suicides on deadly hoax as Barriss gets 20 years
