On April 27, 2020, a fatal swatting incident occurred in Sumner County, Tennessee. The incident followed an extortion attempt throughout March and April 2020 in which Shane Sonderman and a group of co-conspirators attempted to obtain the Twitter handle "@Tennessee" belonging to 60-year-old Mark Herring. After an unnamed minor in the United Kingdom called local law enforcement to Herring's address, he suffered a fatal heart attack while attempting to leave his home.
| 2020 Tennessee swatting | |
|---|---|
| Location | Sumner County, Tennessee |
| Date | April 27, 2020 |
Attack type | Swatting |
| Victim | Mark Herring |
| Perpetrators |
|
| Motive | Extortion in an attempt to obtain the Twitter handle "@Tennessee" |
| Verdict | Pleaded guilty |
| Convictions | Sonderman Conspiracy to make false statements |
| Sentence | Sonderman 5 years in prison plus a $250,000 fine |
Sonderman pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy as part of a plea bargain that dropped several other charges. In July 2021, Sonderman was sentenced to 5 years in federal prison and received a $250,000 fine.[1]
Background
editShane Sonderman
editAt the time of the incident, Shane Sonderman was a 20-year-old resident of Lauderdale County, Tennessee. Sonderman had been a part of a group of people on the instant messaging platform Discord that was responsible for carrying out multiple other swatting and extortion attacks on people with usernames on platforms considered valuable.[2][3]
Mark Herring
editMark Herring was a 60-year-old man from Bethpage, Tennessee. Herring was the holder of the Twitter handle "@Tennessee", which he reportedly received numerous offers for.[4] Corinna Fitch, Herring's daughter, would state, "He would just in passing say, I got another offer on my Twitter handle today." However, Herring would continue to refuse offers up to the day of the incident.[5]
Incident
editOn April 27, 2020, hours before the incident, Sonderman and his co-conspirators contacted Herring demanding his Twitter handle. After Herring refused, Sonderman posted his address in a server on Discord, to which an unnamed minor in the United Kingdom then made a call to local law enforcement alleging that Herring had murdered a woman in his home.[1][6]
Late in the evening, law enforcement surrounded Herring's home in Sumner County. A concerned neighbour of Herring called him, stating, "There's police everywhere, and they think a man has killed a woman and he's on your property, you gotta [sic] take cover." Hearing somebody on his property, Herring came outside with a gun, to which law enforcement asked him who he was before ordering him to put his hands up.[5] After doing so, he attempted to open the lock on his back fence, which he was unable to accomplish. He then attempted to crawl underneath the fence, but after doing so, he collapsed from a heart attack. He was rushed to Sumner Regional Medical Center, where he died shortly thereafter.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b "Serial Swatter Sentenced to Sixty Months in Federal Custody in Connection with Death of Tennessee Man". United States Department of Justice. July 27, 2021. Archived from the original on May 18, 2023. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
- ^ a b Krebs, Brian (July 21, 2021). "Serial Swatter Who Caused Death Gets Five Years in Prison". KrebsOnSecurity. Archived from the original on May 18, 2023. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
- ^ Bella, Timothy (July 24, 2021). "He refused to give up his coveted Twitter handle. Then he was 'swatted' and died of a heart attack". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 18, 2023. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
- ^ Thubron, Rob (July 20, 2021). "A grandfather died of a heart attack after minors swatted him over his rare Twitter handle". TechSpot. Archived from the original on May 18, 2023. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
- ^ a b "'Swatting' call leads to death of Sumner County man targeted for his Twitter handle". WKRN-TV. July 13, 2021. Archived from the original on May 18, 2023. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
- ^ Cramer, Maria (May 18, 2023). "A Grandfather Died in 'Swatting' Over His Twitter Handle, Officials Say". New York Times. Archived from the original on May 18, 2023.