back to article Troll jailed for 5 years after swatting of Twitter handle owner ends in death

A teenager in the US has been jailed for five years for his role in the harassment and swatting of the owner of a desirable Twitter handle – a swoop that led to the netizen's death. Shane Sonderman, of Lauderdale County, Tennessee, wanted the username @Tennessee that had been registered on Twitter years prior by Mark "Sparky" …

  1. hittitezombie

    Good riddance but the sentence should have been longer.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I'm getting to the point of imagining it is their arms that need to be shorter. How's that for a 'nick'?

      1. FuzzyTheBear
        Joke

        the old classic ..

        Yep shorter arms certainly .. Johnny Carson in a sketch " May the fleas of a thousand Afghan camels infect your crotch .. and your arms be too short to scratch " Sounds good to me :D :D :D

        1. EricB123 Silver badge

          Re: the old classic ..

          Sigh, I guess there are only 2 Register readers who have heard of Carnac the Magnificent .

          1. Glenn Amspaugh

            Re: the old classic ..

            You are correct, sir!

    2. David Austin

      If he wasn't a minor when the offence was committed, then I'd 100% agree 5 years is too short for basically amounted to ordering a contract killing.

      As he was... I'm struggling to feel what the appropriate amount of time is - it feels too short at a gut level, but he's age being under the responsibility threshold should count towards some mitigation

      either way, he's a pretty scummy person, and I'm sure this will follow and marr him through life so... natural justice, I guess?

      1. not.known@this.address

        You have gotta be SWATting me.

        "but he's age being under the responsibility threshold should count towards some mitigation"

        Why? In a world where 3- and 4-year olds are apparently self-aware and intelligent enough to decide they want gender reassignment surgery, how old do you need to be to realise that sending SWAT teams to somebody's address - especially if you have explicitly told them the person is armed and will resist - is likely to end in a very bad way?

        If he's smart enough to work out which Twitter handles are the most valuable for his purposes, and he can work out how to get a group of like-minded thugs to go along with his plan, and he can work out where to get addresses, telephone numbers etc, then how do you figure his age has any relevance on how guilty the little piece of human excrement is? If it had been the first and only thig he did, and it had been to a "random stranger", then maybe - just maybe - he could claim to have not fully understood the potential consequences of his actions. But as it was part of an ongoing campaign - which only ended prematurely as it did because the victim DIED - there is absolutely no room for doubt that Sonderman knew exactly what he was doing. Five years is nowhere near long enough, especially if you remember Herring wasn't his only target.

        Still think his age is any sort of defence?

        1. EngineerAl

          Re: You have gotta be SWATting me.

          Gender re-assignment surgery is only given to adults. Younger people may change their gender expression (totally reversable) or when old enough to need it, take puberty-blocking medications (again totally reversable) until they reach adult age and then can have surgery if they still want. (Going through puberty in the usual way is not reversable. )

          1. nagyeger
            Thumb Down

            Re: You have gotta be SWATting me.

            @EngineerAI

            I'm Not a medic, but my understanding is that certain effects of puberty blockers are not reversible, as you can't wind back the clock and some things that are meant to grow won't grow later on.

            Given the suceptability of the young to peer pressure and fashion, the common misconception that they are reversible can be harmful.

          2. LybsterRoy Silver badge

            Re: You have gotta be SWATting me.

            Could be wrong but I remember a case on the Beeb involving the Tavistock clinic in Bristol being sued because boy wanted to be girl but now wanted to be boy again (could have been the other way round). Part of the justification for suing was he/she was underage at the time.

            I'm well past the age of majority (read old and knackered) so memory could well be deficient here.

            1. Vometia has insomnia. Again. Silver badge

              Re: You have gotta be SWATting me.

              They weren't under-age which has left a lot of people wondering why the Tavistock ended up being involved; and by all accounts it's virtually impossible to get any treatment out of them anyway, which seemed to make the case rather superfluous. But the BBC has quite serious "issues" about their handling of this subject so the reporting was rather imbalanced. The court ruling has been overturned since then anyway... er, I think, but the BBC etc seem less than keen to report that development.

            2. Intractable Potsherd

              Re: You have gotta be SWATting me.

              @LybsterRoy - I think you are referring to the case of Kiera Bell (girl>"boy">girl). There's plenty online about her.

              Later poster - no, the case hasn't been overturned, but the Trust is appealing.

              1. msknight

                Re: You have gotta be SWATting me.

                Correct. The Tavistock is appealing, so this has got a way to run yet.

                If society wasn't fixated on the pigeon hole thing and people didn't get their knickers in a twist when they saw a boy playing with Barbie or a girl playing with Action Man, then perhaps the kids could just grow up as kids and things wouldn't get so out of whack.

                I believe that companies wanting to make a profit are behind some of the pressure that people feel today. This is a worthwhile 7 minute watch in my personal opinion - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JDmb_f3E2c

                The other problem is that they're using a single case to dictate the treatment available to everybody. And that is just screwy. It's manipulation by people who don't know what they're talking about, trying to get the world to work the way they want it to work, but at least the Tavistock is fighting back.

                TLDR: The adults are the problem. Not the kids.

                1. msknight

                  Re: You have gotta be SWATting me.

                  It is correct to say that "some" of the effects of hormone blocking are not "totally" irreversible, but it depends on timing and age. It is also a balance. There are short men, just as there are tall women. Those kinds of things are not a complete deal breaker for someone's life.

                  Firstly, some of the numbers put out by the press are misleading. For example, the numbers of people transitioning. The legal method to change birth certificate had been in existence for more than a decade when I changed mine, and my certificate number was mid two hundreds. So you're looking at a shave over 20 people changing their birth certificate every year. We're not dealing with a massive rush here.

                  It is difficult to get treatment out of the Tavistock for a reason. Surgery is definitely irreversible.

                  The problem is one of the person melding into society and the harder this is, the more difficult it is to get employment...

                  For F->M people, hormones later in life will break the voice and trigger dormant hair follicles so they can grow a beard, etc.

                  For M->F no amount of hormones can un-break the voice, un-square the jaw and bone structure.... so it's a balance. Get it right while young and the person will blend into society and have a worthwhile life. Get it wrong, and they'll suffer a life of exclusion and ridicule.

                  Which is why a ban on hormone blockers for all, spells disaster for some for whom it is the right way to go.

      2. K

        Honestly - His parents or carers should be held partially accountable for this. Instead, they buy a PC or laptop for the little shit(s), and as long as they're not seen or making a nuisance, everything is good - I see this all the time!

        Teaching kids right from wrong, it's part of the price for dipping the wick!

        1. ICL1900-G3 Silver badge

          It certainly *should* be part of the process, but these days it seems just too much trouble.

      3. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        "As he was... I'm struggling to feel what the appropriate amount of time is - it feels too short at a gut level, but he's age being under the responsibility threshold should count towards some mitigation"

        "Last April", he was a minor, when the crime was committed. But he's since turned 18. He's bloody lucky, in that respect. On the other hand, he's old enough to drive, old enough to enlist in the military (but not be sent to fight until over 18), but he's still legally a minor with little to no sense of right and wrong in the eyes of the judiciary.

        Maybe there needs to be a sliding scale for mid to late teens in terms of judicial punishment rather than a hard and fast cut off point between child and adult. After all, it's just an arbitrary point set in law anyway. People are different and mature at different rates. Gangs in particular are aware of the age 18 cut-offf and deliberately use their younger members where the risk of being caught is high.

        On the other hand, because people mature at different rates/ages, can even a sliding scale work? It's more likely need someone independent to carefully judge the maturity levels and awareness of reasonability in the convicted offender.

      4. StargateSg7

        Don't worry about it! He's going to a State-level Medium Security or Maximum Security prison!

        And as the "New Fish" on intake, his tush is gonna be examined waaaay up close. And based upon what I have seen in media reports, he's a lanky kid who just doesn't have the size or ferocity to survive long-term in a U.S. prison. He's gonna be someone's prison b&*^^tch soon enough.

        His REAL PUNISHMENT will start on the 2nd day of his 'Nickel' (i.e. 5 year prison term) when the OTHER prisoners begin testing him for gumption and fight! If he shows ANY FEAR or weakness, he is TOAST!

        That 5 years will turn into 20 once he gets the focus of the cruel and vicious attentions all the OTHER prisoners. Then you add-in the disdain and beatings from the guards! He either will last two years and suicide out OR he gets secondary detentions from all the rule breakings he will have to do JUST TO SURVIVE another night!

        Realistically, he'll be DEAD in two years or less OR be imprisoned for 20+ years because of all the add-on charges and sentence-extensions he will be getting just trying to live another day!

        American prisons ARE NO PICNIC --- That five year IS HARD TIME! Only China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Russia are Worse for the amount of prisoner-on-prisoner violence and guard-on-prisoner violence taking place EVERY SINGLE DAY of his prison term!

        There's a reason Kotex Menstrual Pads and Opioids are a popular item in the underground prison black market. He's gonna need them!

        v

    3. bofh1961

      The sentence should've been the electric chair

      As this piece of shit is obviously going to remain a danger to society, possibly even from behind bars if his internet access isn't completely cut.

      1. Boo Radley

        Re: The sentence should've been the electric chair

        I only skimmed the article, but if this was a federal crime he'll go to federal prison, where there are NO inmates with internet access. So at least he can't get into that sort of trouble for a while.

        1. Cynical Pie
          Paris Hilton

          Re: The sentence should've been the electric chair

          But with no internet access the inmates will need to get their 'adult' fun another way.

          Paris? well you do the math (not maths, we are in Tennessee after all)

    4. Terry 6 Silver badge

      Yep. 5 years doesn't seem much for the repeated use of harassment for criminal ends, resulting in a death.

      (BTW can't believe you got an actual downvote)

      1. A.P. Veening Silver badge

        (BTW can't believe you got an actual downvote)

        That is probably because of the electric chair, some people oppose capital punishment.

        1. Mooseman

          state sponsored murder is not a solution to anything.

          1. ICL1900-G3 Silver badge

            State-sponsored murder

            An opinion eventually shared by Albert Pierrepoint, our (UK) last hangman. He thought it solved no problems and was awful for everyone involved in the execution, including, of course, the victim.

            1. Mark 65

              Re: State-sponsored murder

              It does solve one problem - repeat offending.

    5. Wade Burchette

      Since 5 years was the maximum sentence, I suggest that after this douchenozzle gets out, he gets a sentence that will really make him cry: 10 additional years with no computer, tablet, video game console, television, or internet allowed. Make him live near the radio telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia where the natural landscape and government mandate blocks any terrestrial radio waves.

    6. KSM-AZ
      WTF?

      This was not "prank" gone bad. Frankly I would think more like 20 years to rot in prison more appropriate. And this dude's parents ought to serve a year or two for raising the kid. Can we re-institute cane'ing and flogging?

  2. tip pc Silver badge

    Sentence should have been far longer

    5 years wasn’t enough for the sustained continued campaign against multiple people.

    1. entfe001

      Re: Sentence should have been far longer

      According to a Brain Krebs post[1], 60 months was the longest sentence the judge could impose by law while pointing that he definitely deserved more

      [1] https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/07/serial-swatter-who-caused-death-gets-five-years-in-prison/

      1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: Sentence should have been far longer

        That seems to be the other side of the plea system. It might result in many wrongful convictions but it can also result in inadequate sentences.

        It appears that he was one of a conspiracy. It would be good to think that the other conspirators have also been traced and dealt with.

    2. ecofeco Silver badge

      Re: Sentence should have been far longer

      Well, since it's a federal conviction, there is no chance for parole, so it will be ALL five years. The exception is they can earn a reduced sentence from good behavior.

      Not to mention a felony conviction. Which will fuck up the rest of his life.

    3. macjules

      Re: Sentence should have been far longer

      5 years of being sold around the jail for sexual services should do the trick I think.

      1. James 51
        FAIL

        Re: Sentence should have been far longer

        I agree five years isn't long enough for what he has done but we need to move past joking/not joking about rape as a form of punishment.

        1. Mark 65

          Re: Sentence should have been far longer

          Hmmm, I'm a bit yeah/nah on this one. From the family's perspective they never ever get to see a member of their family again just because some c*nt wanted a Twitter handle.

      2. Plest Silver badge
        Facepalm

        Re: Sentence should have been far longer

        Oh yeah 'cos prison rape is so damned funny!

        Kid might be a dickhead and a menace but would you consider rape a suitable punishment? Would you agree to same for female prisoners too?

    4. Version 1.0 Silver badge
      Unhappy

      Re: Sentence should have been far longer

      "Punishment" cures virtually nothing - Rehabilitation, placing him in an environment that might eventually cause him to realize that he'd been an idiot and that life would be better at the end of the rehabilitation, if he never made a similar error, has the chance of improving life for everyone.

      1. ICL1900-G3 Silver badge

        Re: Sentence should have been far longer

        Amen, though unfortunately most seem to prefer the Daily Mail revenge option.

        1. Glenn Amspaugh

          Re: Sentence should have been far longer

          Do they have to work at the Daily Mail or just read every article of every issue?

  3. FozzyBear

    If the screws could lose the key to this human stains cell that'll be great

  4. Chris G

    After harrassing someone to death and intimidating others, this arsehole gets a five year, live in Master's degree course in scumbaggery.

    He will only be in his twenties when he comes out and more likely than not, have a full lifetime of recidavism to look forward to.

    And people say 'there is no justice'....... They're right!

    1. sabroni Silver badge
      Facepalm

      re: And people say 'there is no justice'....... They're right!

      Well I'd certainly take the opinion of a random internet poster over whatever the so-called "Judge" might have handed down. Surely all the detail we need is in the report we just read?

      Why do we even bother with trials? We could just have a survey underneath a news report. Soon as we get 12 guilty clicks, job done!

      1. BebopWeBop
        Happy

        Re: re: And people say 'there is no justice'....... They're right!

        Upvote on the basis that I hope you were being ironic

        1. quartzz

          Re: re: And people say 'there is no justice'....... They're right!

          (sarc, not irony)

      2. heyrick Silver badge
        Happy

        Re: re: And people say 'there is no justice'....... They're right!

        Upvote for the idea of a 21st century Judge Judy.

        Both sides present their cases, the internet judges "guilty as hell! execution!".

        Kill a guy by swatting? Execution! Run a red light? Execution! Copy a DVD? Execution! Let's watch the crime rate plummet faster than a lead balloon enjoying the force of gravity.

        1. nintendoeats

          Re: re: And people say 'there is no justice'....... They're right!

          And the "doing anything other than sitting in a corner crying, because you are afraid that otherwise you will do something that upsets the mob for half a second" rate.

      3. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: re: And people say 'there is no justice'....... They're right!

        If you read the Krebs link posted above it seems that Chris G is in agreement with the judge whose options were limited by the plea the prosecution had accepted.

      4. LybsterRoy Silver badge

        Re: re: And people say 'there is no justice'....... They're right!

        <<We could just have a survey underneath a news report.>>

        Seems to be the way governments (at least in the UK) are working these days.

  5. Khaptain Silver badge

    Cancel Culture and Doxxing..

    Some people refuse to believe that they actually exist or that they cause any harm.....mmmmhhhhh

    1. sabroni Silver badge

      Re: Cancel Culture and Doxxing..

      Where the fuck did "Cancel culture" come from in that?

      I understand people are outraged at GB News cancelling Guto Harri for not being racist enough but it's not really related to this story.

      1. Khaptain Silver badge

        Re: Cancel Culture and Doxxing..

        One of the techniques used by the Cancel Culture fanatics is harcelling people online. Which is part of what went on here...

    2. DS999 Silver badge

      Re: Cancel Culture and Doxxing..

      I have to laugh at "conservatives" whining about cancel culture when they are running everyone out of their party that won't bow down to Herr Trump and go along with his election lies.

      1. KSM-AZ
        Trollface

        Re: Cancel Culture and Doxxing..

        Damn. I knew it. It's Trumps fault this kid harrassed a man to death. Wow what a troll comment

    3. Ignazio
      FAIL

      Re: Cancel Culture and Doxxing..

      How does it taste, mixing flavors so different? The real and the imagined, one and all.

    4. Throatwarbler Mangrove Silver badge
      FAIL

      Re: Cancel Culture and Doxxing..

      Sorry, you fail to understand "Cancel Culture." According to the right wing, the real victim of "cancel culture" here would be Shane Sonderman, who was just using his free speech rights as carved into stone by God Himself when He wrote the US Constitution and handed the tablets down to Jefferson Davis at Stony Mountain.

  6. Valeyard

    QWK

    Fittingly enough I'd read about his death on my daily BBS login into dovenet, of course using QWK

    no way for anyone to be treated at all, social media has created a generation of children screaming "i want"

    1. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

      Re: QWK

      According to Reg, he didn't want to own the Twitter handle @Tennessee. He wanted to get the Twitter handle @Tennessee and then sell it for cash. Presumably somewhere there's an online store for buying and selling these. So we're looking here at a mugging for money.

  7. niksgarage

    " It was alleged someone with a British accent made the actual 911 call."

    Was bemused why this detail was included in such dramatic fashion. Is this the penchant for casting all criminal baddies in the world as being Eurotrash ? BTW it would be much more convincing if they'd said an English accent, or Welsh accent for instance. Accents of the British Isles are so diverse, calling someone's accent British makes little sense.

    1. Valeyard

      Accents of the British Isles are so diverse, calling someone's accent British makes little sense.

      I do agree, but we do say "American accent" which is a hell of a lot bigger than old blighty so we're probably the worst offenders

      1. OGShakes

        But even Americans cant always spot the difference between accents from very different parts of their country, where as here 10 miles can make all the difference. I say this as a British person who has family in Canada and the USA, its easy to spot a New York vs Newfoundland vs Quebec, but there is almost no difference in accent between Victoria Vancouver island vs Chilliwack British Columbia, yet the distance is similar to that of Southampton England to Cardiff in Wales.

        1. Valeyard

          yeah 5 miles is almost always a completely different accent (I'm in the UK), even rurally

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          American accents

          When I went to a University in central Iowa, The one guys room mate joked that it took them 3 months to teach him English. He was from Queens New York.

          I think they just learned how to understand him.

    2. disgruntled yank Silver badge

      @niksgarage

      Why the perp attempted an accent, I can't guess. I suppose that the report said "British" because the person taking the call was a 911 operator, not a successor to Henry Higgins. The American ear used to be pretty bad when it came to distinguishing accents from Great Britain. It could be that all those years of BBC comedies have improved that ear, but apparently not universally.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I've got a South London accent, but still get mistaken for an Australian by most people I meet in the US. For reasons I can't determine, Canadians usually place my accent correctly though.

      2. Cynic_999

        When I was visiting Florida, I was sometimes accused of having a Boston accent.

        1. John Gamble

          Hmm. We had a house guest from England decades ago. Seeing a then-new episode of M*A*S*H featuring the then-new character from Boston, he turned to me and asked, "They cast a British character?"

          I guess Boston is a special case.

    3. KarMann Silver badge
      Holmes

      Maybe because 'English' can be ambiguous* as to whether you mean English the language, or English the regional dialect of English the language. 'British' makes it clear that they mean those people over on this side of the pond, at least.

      * If there's one language that does ambiguity well, it's English, after all.

      1. katrinab Silver badge
        Paris Hilton

        An "English accent" surely means one of the many diverse accents found in the English part of the Brexit plague island?

        1. KarMann Silver badge
          Headmaster

          Unless one were speaking, e.g., German, French, or Chinese (of any variety) with an English accent, which could well mean an American, Australian, Kiwi, Canadian, etc. accent.

    4. heyrick Silver badge

      calling someone's accent British makes little sense.

      Very true, but Americans are conditioned in far too many movies to know that the bad guy/evil genius speaks with a "British accent" ... by which they probably mean "sounds like Hugh Grant" as I can't imagine them coping with a stronger accent like Scouse or Glaswegian at all.

      1. Patched Out

        Re: calling someone's accent British makes little sense.

        Hugh Grant for evil British villain? Hardly. For British evil villain, I think more of a Peter Cushing accent. He did blow up the entire planet of Alderaan after all.

        1. Cynic_999

          Re: calling someone's accent British makes little sense.

          "

          He did blow up the entire planet of Alderaan after all.

          "

          Was that the planet he was only supposed to blow the bloody doors off?

        2. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

          Re: calling someone's accent British makes little sense.

          For British evil villain, I think more of a Peter Cushing accent

          James Mason is the usual stereotype.

          1. Claverhouse

            Re: calling someone's accent British makes little sense.

            Like Vincent Price, Mr. Mason's accent was entirely his own.

      2. imanidiot Silver badge

        Re: calling someone's accent British makes little sense.

        They'd have a very hard time believing him to be truly evil if he spoke like Fred Dibnah now wouldn't they (Or understand him for that matter)?

        1. David 132 Silver badge
          Happy

          Re: calling someone's accent British makes little sense.

          Actually, I am now chuckling at the mental image of Rab C Nesbitt as a movie villain.

          “Mr President, we think he’s threatening to blow up the Earth, but he might just be yelling at his pet budgie…”

      3. Danny 2

        Re: calling someone's accent British makes little sense.

        Apparently pandemic binge watching of Peppa Pig has made American youngsters speak with British accents. Chances are the phone call was made by a child.

    5. TimMaher Silver badge
      Windows

      Eurotrash

      Now that was a really great programme.

      1. David 132 Silver badge
        Thumb Up

        Re: Eurotrash

        Ah yes, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Antoine de Caunes, "Allo, my Eenglish chums..."

        It was excellent late-night-after-a-curry-and-pints fare, and did more to foster pan-European understanding than a thousand European Union grands projets.

    6. Cynic_999

      Perhaps a bit like us using the term "American accent" when there is so much difference between the way people speak in New York, California and Texas.

      1. hplasm
        Facepalm

        Haven't you heard?

        Americans don't have accents... apparently.

        1. Valeyard

          Re: Haven't you heard?

          especially since "America" isn't just north america, but a continent like europe so includes canada, mexico etc

          1. Imhotep

            Re: Haven't you heard?

            I believe most reasonably intelligent people understand that when American used it is referring to someone from the United States Of America.

            1. Valeyard

              Re: Haven't you heard?

              ah so i'm not reasonably intelligent then, good to know

              1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

                Re: Haven't you heard?

                Well, yes, you could abnormally intelligent :-)

                Of course, "abnormal" could mean above or below the line :-)))

  8. Howard Sway Silver badge

    swatting

    Why is there a need to invent a name for this, especially one that makes it sound like nothing more than something you'd do to an annoying fly?

    It should be described as premeditated murder : it seems that rather then bother with the fuss and risk of hiring a contractor to do the evil deed, you can try to outsource it to the police in a trigger happy country. A victim of this deserves much more respect than saying they've been "swatted". It sounds like saying that their life was worthless.

    1. ChrisC Silver badge

      Re: swatting

      "Swatting" is in reference to the use of SWAT teams, so it's not as if the name was just plucked out of thin air, or deliberately chosen to sound inconsequential relative to the actual effects of the act to which it applies.

      The question might be better asked as to whether "SWAT" itself is an appropriate name for the firearms squad, as it manages to quite neatly gloss over the rather lethal nature of what that group of officers are expected to do when ordered into action.

      1. TimMaher Silver badge
        Headmaster

        Re: swatting

        However, if you expand the acronym you get Special Weapons And Tactics team.

        A bit more threatening I think.

        1. ChrisC Silver badge

          Re: swatting

          Yes, I'm aware of what SWAT expands into, the point is that its the rather cutesy acronym rather than the expansion of it which is used as a matter of routine both officially and unofficially when referring to the team and its use. The fact that it can be pronounced as a word, and a single syllable one at that, rather than having to be spelled out initial by initial, doesn't help either.

          e.g. Try saying "Eff Bee Eye" without it sounding like you're talking about a serious bunch of people. For bonus points, try saying it without sounding like Alan Rickman in Die Hard.

          Now try saying "swat" and make it sound like you're conjuring up a bunch of paramilitaries armed to the teeth and ready to kick criminal butt, rather than sounding more like you're just being bothered by a pesky fly...

          1. MrReynolds2U
            Thumb Up

            Re: swatting

            up-vote for the Alan Rickman reference and the fact I now can't say FBI any other way :)

          2. Valeyard

            Re: swatting

            At least over here you know what's happening

            "Armed response"

            translates neatly as they have guns and they're going to use them to argue with someone causing a ruckus

          3. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
            Coat

            FBI

            Oh, come on, guys, we talked about this! You're supposed to yell "FBI" at the beginning and what happened with getting "FBI" on the fronts of the uniforms? Huh?

        2. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

          Re: swatting

          So it's not "Strengths Weaknesses And Teabreaks" then (or whatever?)

    2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: swatting

      >It should be described as premeditated murder :

      Perhaps if interactions with US law enforcement didn't automatically always end in civilians being killed ?

      Although it could lead to savings in police budgets. Have one centrally mounted naval gun per town and a website for you to enter the coordinates of an address and the freedom gun applies 16inch freedom shells to the address.

      1. Valeyard

        Re: swatting

        my sister's a cop in the UK and let me tell you she's not much over 8 stone and has never ever wanted a gun, because it's never come up. her big stick is enough if she waves it around a bit without even hitting anyone.

        unfortunately the US is slightly different, you could pull a guy up for urinating beside the bins out the back of a chippy and oh dear, legally-held AK47. the cops over there must be stressed to breaking point about how the slightest callout might end up

        my sympathies, but at least you escaped such monstrosities as socialised healthcare free at the point of need and greggs

    3. Terry 6 Silver badge

      Re: swatting

      "SWAT" in this case doesn't actually refer to fly swats.

      It's about setting a SWAT team on someone.....

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWAT

      Which in a country where shoot first and ask later ( if they survive) is a matter of course is pretty significant. Virtually the same as pulling the trigger yourself

  9. Bruce Ordway

    System failure?

    A LOT of teenagers have been reckless in the past (myself included)

    but... today it seems like tech has unleashed those bent on unscrupulous behavior?

    Wonder how/when systems will catch up?

  10. skeptical i
    Unhappy

    @Tennessee

    I hope Twitter disable that username and make it completely unavailable for use. Preserve Mr. Herring's posts (unless his surviving family chooses to delete them), but otherwise disable that handle forever. I am so sad and disgusted at this whole episode, from the first glint of Sonderman's stupid "gimme!" greed to Mr. Herring's totally needless passing to the five-year wrist slap. I can not imagine the grief his family is suffering.

  11. kbutler.toledo

    fair value

    lets see, put this together for me ...

    Steal a CD, get 'juvi' till you're 21...Cause a death: get 60 months

    Eh!

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like