Police investigate whether false report that led to fatal shooting of Kansas man was a ‘swatting’ prank

Authorities are investigating whether a deadly police shooting in Wichita stemmed from someone making up a false report to get a SWAT team to descend on a home in a prank known as “swatting,” which is common in the online gaming industry

Deputy Police Chief Troy Livingston said the shooting happened Thursday while an officer was responding to a report that a father had been shot in the head and that the shooter was holding his mother, brother and sister hostage, the Wichita Eagle reported.

Livingston said a 28-year-old man was shot as he came to the front door, but that when officers got inside the house, they didn’t find anyone with gunshot wounds. The man died at a hospital.

Livingston didn’t say what caused the officer to shoot the man or whether the man was armed. Police don’t think the man fired at officers, but the incident is still under investigation, he said. Several people inside the home are being interviewed.