A 24-year-old Arizona man who called 911 to warn about a possible swatting attack says Pima County deputies smashed through his window and shot him anyway, leaving him partially paralyzed and now seeking $176 million.
Axeel Melendez and his mother, Carmen Melendez, filed a notice of claim against the Pima County Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Chris Nanos, the pre-litigation step that signals an intent to sue. The filing demands $176 million for injuries Melendez sustained when deputies responding to a fake emergency call on April 10 allegedly opened fire on him inside his own Tucson home, Fox News Digital reported.
Melendez was struck in the right thigh and left shoulder. He suffered a spinal cord injury, broken ribs, and a broken leg. He is now partially paralyzed.
And the worst part of the story may be this: Melendez tried to stop it before it started. His attorney says he called 911 that same morning to warn that a hacker had threatened to swat him. The operator, according to the attorney, told him not to worry.
The chain of events began before April 10. An unidentified hacker stole Melendez's personal information during an online video game, according to his attorney, Dev Sethi. The hacker demanded ransom for the return of accounts and passwords. When Melendez refused, the hacker escalated, threatening to report him to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement because of his Hispanic name, and threatening to swat him.
Melendez did what most people would consider the right thing. He called 911 to alert law enforcement. Sethi described what happened next:
"He tells a 911 operator all of this and she essentially downplays it and says, 'Don't worry, that's not how it works. They can't just call 911 and have the SWAT team show up at your house.'"
Hours later, someone impersonating Melendez called 311, the non-emergency line, and claimed Melendez's father had shot his sister. The caller used an out-of-state area code. Deputies were dispatched to Melendez's home.
Sethi told Arizona Public Media the call carried obvious signs of a hoax. Nobody reporting a genuine shooting emergency dials 311. The out-of-state number should have raised questions. And Melendez had already flagged his address as a potential swatting target that same morning.
"This morning of the April 10 call has many red flags and hallmarks of it being a fake call, including...this call came into 311. Nobody reporting an emergency calls 311."
When deputies arrived, they smashed through a window at the home. Melendez, who legally owned a handgun, took cover behind his bedroom door. Deputies allegedly opened fire.
Sethi's account includes a detail that sharpens the question of accountability. One female deputy, according to the attorney, acknowledged that she knew Melendez's address had been flagged as a possible swatting target, but said she approached the scene with a mindset to "treat it like it's real until it's not real."
That phrase captures a real tension in law enforcement. Officers cannot simply ignore emergency calls. But when a specific address has already been flagged as a likely hoax target, by the resident himself, to 911, that same day, the question becomes whether deputies took any steps at all to verify the call before forcing entry and firing rounds.
Sethi framed Melendez's actions in plain terms:
"He did everything we teach our kids to do. When you're in danger, when somebody's threatening you, what's the first thing we tell all of our children? Call the police."
The notice of claim, a formal step under Arizona law before a lawsuit can proceed against a government entity, names both the Pima County Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Chris Nanos personally. Neither the sheriff's office nor Nanos has publicly responded to the filing.
Sethi told reporters the damages reflect the scope of what Melendez lost.
"Our justice system recognizes the dignity of a human life and the importance of the completeness of your body. Axeel's health, his independence, his ability to earn a living, his sense of security, that's all been stolen away from him."
Melendez is 24 years old. Partial paralysis at that age means decades of medical costs, lost wages, and dependence on others. Sethi called him "a vulnerable young man" whose "life has been upended."
"Axeel is a vulnerable young man, his life has been upended. He has real present needs and we've given them an opportunity to do the right thing and resolve the case, but the ball is wholly in their courts."
Swatting, the act of placing a false emergency call to trigger an armed law enforcement response at someone's home, has grown into a persistent and dangerous problem nationwide. The calls are designed to weaponize police against an unsuspecting target. When officers arrive expecting a violent scene, the risk of a fatal outcome is built into the hoax.
Several open questions remain. No one has publicly identified or charged the hacker who allegedly stole Melendez's information and initiated the threat. The person who placed the fake 311 call has not been publicly named. It is unclear whether the Pima County Sheriff's Office opened an internal investigation into the shooting, or whether any deputy has faced discipline.
It is also unclear what, if anything, happened to Melendez's 911 warning. Did the operator log it? Was an alert placed on his address? Did the information reach the deputies who responded? The gap between Melendez's call for help and the deputies' forced entry is where the system either worked or failed, and right now, the public record suggests it failed.
A man called 911 to ask for protection, was told not to worry, and wound up partially paralyzed by the people he called for help. If that sequence doesn't demand answers from Pima County, nothing will.
