Twenty-four-year-old Axeel Melendez, who lives in Arizona, was seriously wounded by police gunfire and partially paralyzed after a “swatting” call. Melendez and his mother formally filed a $176 million lawsuit against the Pima County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Chris Nanos.
Attorney Dev Sethi said his client had previously been threatened by a hacker who obtained his personal information through an online game and demanded a ransom. The hacker had also threatened to report Melendez to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Melendez therefore called 911 to warn of a possible false emergency call, but the operator told him not to worry.
The incident occurred on April 10. A person called the nonemergency 311 line, provided Melendez’s address and claimed that his father had shot his sister. Numerous police units were dispatched to the home in response to the call.
Attorney Sethi said the officers ignored the warning that the address could be the target of a swatting attack and approached the home as if the threat were genuine. Believing that an attacker was inside, Melendez took a handgun legally owned by the family and hid behind his bedroom door. The officers broke through a window, entered the home and opened fire.
Melendez was shot in the right thigh and left shoulder. In addition to a spinal cord injury, he suffered broken ribs and a broken leg. “When he received a threat, he did what we all teach our children to do: call the police,” Sethi said, adding that his client’s life had been turned upside down.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Office has not yet issued an official statement on the matter.
