Two things can obviously be true at the same time: that "police officers"† are improperly keyed up as if they're shock troops preparing for a battle, and that calling in a false report with the hope that it will provoke an armed response is effectively an attempt at homicide.
To me, the (standard) overreaction by the police makes arguments minimizing what the gamer did here even harder. Unless you live under a rock, you're aware of the controversy about armed police response in the US. Surely this gamer knew that, and called a fake report in anyways --- one involving an active shooter and a hostage.
I'm with Ken "Popehat" White: what the gamer did here is homicide. We can argue about the degree.
† really, in almost all cases in the US, "assault officers", and we should separate the two concepts, stop hiring new assault officers, and start hiring a new class of less-armed police officers
Later
It turns out there's already a concept in US law that captures this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depraved-heart_murder
To me, the (standard) overreaction by the police makes arguments minimizing what the gamer did here even harder. Unless you live under a rock, you're aware of the controversy about armed police response in the US. Surely this gamer knew that, and called a fake report in anyways --- one involving an active shooter and a hostage.
I'm with Ken "Popehat" White: what the gamer did here is homicide. We can argue about the degree.
† really, in almost all cases in the US, "assault officers", and we should separate the two concepts, stop hiring new assault officers, and start hiring a new class of less-armed police officers
Later
It turns out there's already a concept in US law that captures this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depraved-heart_murder