For The People

This is a battlefield.

On one side

is the United States Attorney's Office.

On the other side is the Federal Public Defender.

You are among the best and the brightest attorneys

in this country.

You are passionate. You are dedicated.

You are talented. You are incredibly hard-working.

You handle the most difficult and the most challenging cases

in the most prestigious, highest profile trial court

in the country.

You're extraordinary advocates and worthy adversaries.

You are The Defenders.

You are Justice.

And you come together to fight on this battlefield.

And, honestly, I'm really dreading it.

Really! I've been umping

in the New York Lawyers Softball League for 11 years,

and this is the one game of the season

that I do not look forward to.

Because... you... stink.

Thank you, Judge.

Really appreciate that, Your Honor.

Okay. Great.

Now let's play ball!

Safe!

Yes!

Let's play ball!

What inning is it? I lost count.

- First inning. - Really?

You guys are terrible.

Yes, that is true, but, I mean, we're having fun.

And... And who ever thought that was possible, you know?

Prosecutors, defenders. Dogs, cats. Sharks and Jets.

- Gryffindors and Slytherins... - Yeah, I got it.

- Because you were just staring... - I got it.

My point is, we've all come a long way.

Still the first inning.

Let's bring it in!

The senior United States Senator from New York,

Walter Carson, has been shot multiple times

outside of a house in Scarsdale, New York.

The area around the home remains an active crime scene,

and few details have emerged

about what is already the highest-profile shooting

of an American politician in a generation.

Was this political? Do we know?

- We don't know. - Have others been shot?

- We don't know. - Whose house is this?

The Senator's, I assume.

Don't assume, 'cause it isn't.

Senator Carson lives on the Upper East Side.

We don't know whose house this is,

we don't know why he was there, we don't know why he was shot.

This could be a home invasion, some random crime,

it could be a political hit, it could be a domestic dispute.

We don't know.

And until we know, we don't know...

What do you know?

Nothing. And if I did, I couldn't talk about it.

I'm just asking... Are we picking this up?

I don't know.

You okay?

Carson handed me my diploma at Stuyvesant High in '89.

I was a volunteer on his '92 campaign.

Worked out of the Rochester field office.

Jill.

I got to go.

Okay, we're getting word

from University Memorial Hospital...

63-year-old United States Senator Walter Carson has died

as a result of multiple gunshot wounds.

Senator Carson becomes

the first United States Senator killed in office

since the man who previously held this same seat

was gunned down in California in 1968...

New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

The senator's son lives in Scarsdale.

Just moved in. This was his house.

What are you guys wearing?

- Who are you? - Ted. Who are you?

- You're not Ted. - Who is this?

Ted. Ted is our new investigator.

Well, our old investigator was named Ted.

- I know. - It's confusing.

Oh, it's actually not that confusing.

You just need to remember your investigator is named Ted.

This was the Senator's son's house.

Maybe he was shot at his son's house

because there was less security there?

Senators don't have full-time security outside of Washington.

Sir, FBI is confirming Senator Carson was shot

- by local police. - The police?

That doesn't make any sense. Senator Carson is white.

A 911 call was made to Scarsdale police

reporting an active shooter at this residence.

The police responded with more than 50 officers

from seven different departments,

including the Special Response Team.

Senator Carson apparently

ran out the doorway after his grandson

and was shot on the front porch.

The boy was uninjured.

E-Excuse me.

- I need a lawyer. - Give us a minute.

Someone just killed a United States Senator.

Yeah. Th-That was me.

I rep WorldWarBlood.

- What? - It's a video game, WorldWarBlood.

Online multiplayer.

This dude in my Pillage Guild... MySoCalledKnife...

bet me he could beat me to a hundred caps, so...

Okay, okay, stop. Back up. What is your name?

- Julian. - Okay, Julian.

What does "WorldWarBlood" and "Pillage Guild" and "Caps"

have to do with the Senator?

I had a disagreement with MySoCalledKnife,

and, you know, it... it got a little out of control.

And he was like, "Why don't you swat me, then?"

And I was like, "Fine, I will," so I just...

Wait, why... why don't you what me?

My God. This was a swatting.

S-Swatting. Nobody?

- Really? Really? - Ted.

Why does his name have to be Ted?

Swatting is when someone calls 911 and reports

that something horrible is happening at some address...

an active shooter, a bomb, hostages...

and the police send a Special Response Team...

a SWAT team... and everyone there is terrorized.

It's big in the gamer community.

He gave me his address, so I did it.

- Except the address he gave you... - Wasn't his.

It was the son of a United States Senator.

- I didn't know that. - How hard is it

to trace these 911 calls?

I used a tor browser and spoofed the call in a VoIP network

- to mask the number. - Difficult. Not impossible.

You don't have to turn yourself in, Julian.

I'm not advising you not to. I'm not advising you to.

I-I-I don't want a bunch of cops coming to my house.

My mom, she doesn't need to see that.

I messed this up.

If you're not gonna help me,

I'll walk over to the FBI myself...

Julian, we are going to help you.

Ted, I want you to look into everything you can

about Julian's past.

His online activity.

These other guys playing the game.

Sandra, you bought this one. It's yours.

The government is going to file a false report charge,

but see what else they might hit him with.

Contact his parents. Jay. Duty.

Allison, these cases. All of them.

This is all hands on deck.

I don't know anything.

I do.

Walter Carson was a tireless public servant,

a proud New Yorker,

a wonderful father and... and husband.

Swatting is not a joke.

It's an act of terrible cowardice and cruelty.

And I can assure you that this office

will bring every possible resource to bear

in prosecuting Julian Sarco

to the fullest extent of the law.

We've got nothing, do we?

We have Julian Sarco.

For filing a false report to emergency services.

18 years old. No priors.

Maybe gets four years.

For killing a United States Senator.

He didn't kill a United States Senator.

What about the officer who did kill a United States senator?

He acted within protocol.

What else can we charge Sarco with?

Sarco was in a Pillage Guild with MySoCalledKnife.

That's his handle... MySoCalledKnife.

MySoCalledKnife has lots of enemies within WorldWarBlood,

including KimJunMakeEmSayUn...

D-Don't say the names anymore.

Uh, right. So, when it looked like

Julian might not go through with the swat,

Kim offered Julian some online currency to do it.

Yeah. So... conspiracy?

- We need more. - More?

That is everything Julian has said in WorldWarBlood

over the last two years.

It's dark and threatening

and grotesquely violent.

- Enjoy. - Mm, this is horrible.

He sounds like every kid on a video game.

Which is horrible.

If you don't like video games. Or kids.

I don't. You know this is bad for us, right?

- It is what it is. - It's bad for us.

Look, if you say so.

I do. I did. We need your help.

Now, see, if I was in your position,