He refused to give up his coveted Twitter handle. Then he was 'swatted' and died of a heart attack.

[Zorro]

The international scheme to obtain a coveted Twitter handle ended on a sleepy, country road in Tennessee when police surrounded the home of Mark Herring and ordered him to come out with his hands up.

Authorities were called to the Sumner County address in April 2020 in response to a report that a woman had been fatally shot and pipe bombs would go off if officers arrived, according to court records.

In the hours before, Herring, 60, and his family had been harassed by several people aiming to acquire and then resell lucrative social media handles through a range of intimidation — from phone calls and text messages to false reports of fires and unexpected, cash-only pizza deliveries at their homes.

But Herring’s refusal to give up his @Tennessee handle, federal prosecutors say, led to police surrounding his home with their weapons drawn, and caused the computer programmer to suffer a massive heart attack that killed him. His death in Bethpage, Tenn., was triggered by “swatting” — the illegal practice of calling in fake life-threatening emergencies to provoke a heavily-armed response from police.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/07/24/swatting-mark-herring-tennessee-twitter/

[pandr32]

1. I certainly hope there will be charges

[csziggy]

5. Shane Sonderman was charged and plead guilt to conspiracy

From the link in the OP:

On Wednesday, Shane Sonderman was sentenced in Memphis federal court to five years in prison for one count of conspiracy. Sonderman, 20, of Lauderdale County, Tenn., pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge in March in exchange for several other charges to be dropped.

Federal prosecutors say Sonderman targeted at least five people and attempted to pressure them to sell him their social media handles, according to court documents obtained by The Post. Herring, a father of three and grandfather of six, is the only person targeted who died as a result.

Sonderman posted Herring’s contact information online on April 27, 2020, and a co-conspirator — a minor in the United Kingdom — falsely reported a murder at Herring’s home to police shortly thereafter, court documents say. The British minor, identified as “C.B.” in the indictment, was not extradited to the United States for charges.

[Rocknation]

21. Conspiracy, racketeering, accomplice to assault, and felony murder would do nicely

Last edited Tue Jul 27, 2021, 01:13 AM - Edit history (4)

which is what should happen to all swatters


rocktivity

[pandr32]

38. Agreed 100%

[niyad]

2. What was so special about his twitter handle? The story is behind a paywall.

[KentuckyWoman]

4. Found this at Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/25/tennessee-swatting-mark-herring-twitter-heart-attack


How they figured out where the man lived is the scary part to me.

[lonely bird]

23. Unsurprising

There is no such thing as security on the internet.

[csziggy]

6. It was @Tennessee

Apparently worth a good sum.

[niyad]

8. But why?

[csziggy]

13. Because other people thought they could make a lot of money selling it along

And the owner of the username refused to sell it at all. I hope his heirs keep the name and refuse to give it up - ever.

[Thtwudbeme]

3. I hope I never get that attached to anything on social media

it's flipping social media- it's not worth it.

[uponit7771]

9. Looks like it was worth millions, I would've sold but that's me

[Thtwudbeme]

28. in a heartbeat

"Can we buy your twitter handle for a million?" Oh HELL YES! Adios twitterverse!

[ShazzieB]

34. Me, too!

I am not particularly attached to any handle I've ever used online, and that kind of money would be life-changing for me. Talk about a no brainer.

[oldsoftie]

29. Who would pay that for a stupid State name Twitter handle?

The only thing i could see being worth anything would be famous peoples names, and I would hope that Twitter would only allow THOSE people to have that handle

[calimary]

25. No kidding!!!

[dalton99a]

7. Shane Sonderman is a dangerous psychopath who belongs in prison.

[tenderfoot]

14. I'm enraged that his identity hasn't been revealed.

The public has a right to see what that monster looks like.

[dalton99a]

19. +1. What he did to other people:

But it wasn’t the subsequent bomb threat that Sonderman and friends called in to her home that bothered Dozono most. It was the home invasion that was ordered at her address using strangers on social media.

Dozono said Sonderman created an account on Grindr — the location-based social networking and dating app for gay, bi, trans and queer people — and set up a rendezvous at her address with an unsuspecting Grindr user who was instructed to waltz into her home as if he was invited.

“This gentleman was sent to my home thinking someone was there, and he was given instructions to walk into my home,” Dozono said.

...

But prosecutors said that shortly after his release, Sonderman went right back to doing what he was doing when he got caught. Investigators who subpoenaed his online communications found he’d logged into the Instagram account “FreeTheSoldiers,” which was known to have been used by the group to harass people for their social media handles.

Sonderman was promptly re-arrested for violating the terms of his release, and prosecutors played for the court today a recording of a phone call Sonderman made from jail in which he brags to a female acquaintance that he wiped his mobile phone two days before investigators served another search warrant on his home.

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

[lonely bird]

27. So he is incapable of learning

Sociopath? Perhaps. Time to remove him from society. Lock him away from any electronics. 25+ years in prison with no parole.

[oldsoftie]

31. Someone's gonna put a bullet in that fuckers head

Just watch & see. he'll pick the wrong person/people to mess with & it wont end well for him.
And i wont feel too badly about it

[Devil Child]

17. +1 dalton99a

[ananda]

10. I can hardly believe people would actually do that kind of stuff.

Swatting was covered on The Good Fight, seasons 4 and 5.

That show is really raising my consciousness in so many ways.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

12. Are you sure?

Oh, you thought 2020 was going to be bad.

2021: hold my COVID-19 variant and watch this:

[KT2000]

11. Family should go for civil suit

and wipe out the assets of all involved in this.

[oldsoftie]

32. Very good idea. nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. I'd like to know what has happened to the British "minor" involved in this

and how old they were at the time. Could they do with a spell of psychiatric care and rehabiliation? If "minor" meant "17", I'd be inclined to think they need some loss of freedom, and attempt to get them to achieve the moral and emotional age of 17 before they get complete freedom again.

[relayerbob]

16. I know this is tilting at windmills

But I really wish people would quit using cutsie names like "swatting" to describe (and usually minimize) acts of murder, mayhem and terrorism. I hope they find the bastards who called it in, and throw the book at them

[Dial H For Hero]

18. I think it's useful shorthand in this case.

It’s a single word which describes a very specific sort of crime.

[soldierant]

37. And it references the police usage of "SWAT" which

God knows is plenty violent. (And implicitly contemptuous.)

[IronLionZion]

20. A 20 year old in Tennessee got a British minor to call it in

and they haven't extradited the conspirator from the UK.

People are insane.

How about we send them the American woman who killed a British teen with her car and they send us the swatting perp.

[Rocknation]

22. The 911 was made from overseas by a minor? Such attention to detail.

Well, that 20 year old in Tennessee is good for conspiracy and felony murder charges.


rocktivity

[lonely bird]

30. Yes, people are insane

Thatcher claimed there was no such thing as society. We are seeing the collapse of it.

[plimsoll]

36. Isn't it odd that this is the conservative position.

And David Brooks will look at the declining civility in society and blame liberals.

[Pepsidog]

24. Wow. Never heard of that term.

[calimary]

26. New to me, too.

[11 Bravo]

33. It refers to a presumed response by a SWAT team (Special Weapons and Tactics).

The guys that drive armored vehicles, carry military grade weapons, and break down doors.

[jeffreyi]

35. Just listened to an episode of "Darknet Diaries" podcast

Where the victim was harassed with pizza orders. Creepy and seriously bad. The bad people need to have the book thrown at them. Unfortunately, probably very few are caught.