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Updated July 25th, 2021 at 20:15 IST

US: Tennesse man dies of cardiac arrest after teenagers 'swatted' him over Twitter handle

Pursuant to an incident in April 2020 wherein the swatter had called the police to report a fake murder at Mark Herring's Summer County home in Tennesse, USA. 

Reported by: Srishti Jha
US
AP | Image:self
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In an unprecedented development overseas, a 60-year-old Tennesse man died after he was "swatted" by people who coerced him to terminate his Twitter handle. Pursuant to an incident in April 2020 wherein the swatter had called the police to report a fake murder at Mark Herring's Summer County home. 

On July 22, his family informed the local media that throng of law enforcement swarmed Herring's property while he was shocked and in a fix which led to a cardiac failure and he passed away.

His daughter Corinna Herring Fitch said, "I believe he was scared to death. I believe from the adrenaline and the guns in his face.. a heart attack happened.'

Swatters booked by Tennessee Police 

One of the swatters, Shane Sonderman, was held by the police and sentenced to five years in prison. Sonderman was a minor at the time of Herring's death and turned 18 only after he was arrested, authorities revealed. He was charged as an adult with wire fraud and conspiracy, interstate communication of threats, false information and hoaxes and conspiracy. Earlier, he agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charge before the authorities in exchange for other charges against him to be dismissed. Another conspirator to the swatting is also a minor from the UK and according to court documents, he/she was not deported to the US for allegations against him.

The attorney for Sonderman, Huffman, stated his client's sentence was fair "in light of Shane's culpability" and clarified that it was the co-conspirator who made the call to the cops after Sonderman had found address of the deceased.

What is Swatting?

Swatting is termed as criminal harassment tactic of deceiving an emergency service via means like hoaxing an emergency services, into sending a police and emergency response team to another person's address. This is triggered by false reporting of a serious law enforcement emergency, such as bomb threat, murder or hostage situation or a false report of fake "mental health" emergency or reporting that an individual is allegedly suicidal and may or may not be armed.

Notably, making false reports to emergency services is a criminal offence in many nations, punishment to which is sometimes penal or imprisonment even. Swatting involved a high risk of unnecessary violence which further causes monetary loss while responding to false reports and hoax calls. Interestingly, in California, swatters bear the full cost of the response by SOS teams.

How did Mark Herring die?

As per reports, Sonderman targeted at least five people across the country demanding they deactivate their social media accounts. Indictment disclosed that Herring was the only victim who succumbed to the plot. Upon surrendering the social media handle, Sonderman would have put it up for sale on internet portals and if they rejected, he and his co-conspirator would "bombard the owner with repeated phone calls and text messages and harass" them in a bid to get them to change their mind.

Prosecutors informed the court that conspirators even went ahead in sharing the address of their target and target's family members and circulate it online. They sent food deliveries to the homes and then make swatting calls to local cops.

On the night of Herring's death, his daughters received unexpected cash-only pizza deliveries at their homes. She got alarmed when her father did not respond to her calls or texts. Upon getting in touch with his father's friend who was present at his property, Fitch was apprised of the situation and cops' arrival there.

Simultaneously, the daughters got unexpected pizzas deliveries and law enforcement swarmed Herring's house after receiving a call that a murder ocurred at the property.

The family told local media agencies that they were voicing out concerns becauese they want tougher laws for such offences which can lead to culpable homicide.

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Published July 25th, 2021 at 20:15 IST

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