Arizona man seeks $176M after swatting response left him paralyzed despite prior warning to police

A routine gaming session turned into a life-changing tragedy for one Arizona man who says he tried to stop disaster before it happened. Now, nearly two years later, he is preparing to take legal action after a police response to an alleged swatting call left him permanently paralyzed.

Axeel Melendez, now 24, and his mother have filed a notice of claim seeking $176 million from Pima County and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. The filing is the first legal step required before suing a public entity in Arizona, Dexerto reported.

The claim argues that officials ignored repeated warnings that Melendez was being targeted by hackers who planned to swat him. Swatting is a dangerous tactic where someone makes a fake emergency report to trigger an armed police response at another person’s home. 

He warned everyone first, but it still ended like this

The incident began on April 8 while Melendez was playing Rust, Tucson reported. Someone on the game server asked to inspect his computer to prove he was not cheating. He agreed, but shortly afterward he started receiving alerts that several of his accounts were being accessed.

The claim says hackers gained access to his email and private information before demanding money. They also threatened to falsely report that he had a bomb and contact immigration authorities about his family, even though they are US citizens.

Melendez immediately called 911 to warn authorities that he could become the target of a swatting attack. A dispatcher assured him, “They can’t just call SWAT on you.” The dispatcher added, “Nothing’s going to happen,” according to audio published by Arizona’s Family. The allegations also come amid other recent cases involving alleged investigative mistakes, including one in which Brandon Klayme spent 18 months in jail before police realized they had the wrong person. 

Less than 48 hours later, someone pretending to be Melendez contacted authorities. The caller claimed his father had shot his sister. The call came from an invalid out-of-state number, per the notice of claim. It also contained conflicting details and was made through Tucson’s non-emergency 311 service. The filing says one deputy even warned over the radio that the incident could be a swatting attempt.

The incident is one of several recent cases that have raised questions about police investigations, including another in which AI facial recognition technology was linked to the wrongful identification of a man. 

Meanwhile, events at Melendez’s home were unfolding rapidly. Deputies arrived and tried the doors before breaking his bedroom window with a shovel. Believing intruders were entering the house, he picked up his mother’s legally registered handgun. 

Deputies encountered Melendez holding the firearm and opened fire. They fired eight shots, and two bullets hit him. The gunfire shattered his leg, broke his ribs, and severely damaged his spinal cord. He is now paralyzed from the chest down.

Attorney Dev Sethi said Melendez “did everything he was supposed to do.” The claim alleges deputies acted negligently and recklessly because they failed to connect the emergency report with his earlier warning. The sheriff’s department declined to comment because of the pending litigation.