Overview
- Axeel Melendez filed a notice of claim in late July seeking $176 million, alleging Pima County deputies shot and left him paralyzed while responding to a bogus emergency call.
- The claim and incident reports say deputies smashed a bedroom window, entered with guns drawn and fired seven shots through a door, striking Melendez in the leg and spine and causing a complete spinal cord injury.
- Melendez had warned the sheriff’s department that he was being targeted by hackers and told a 911 operator he feared a swatting attack, but the notice says dispatch reassured him before the later, fatal response.
- The Pima County Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on pending litigation and the county now has a statutory 60-day window to accept, deny or otherwise respond to the claim before a lawsuit can proceed.
- The claim arrives on top of a separate multi‑million notice tied to the high‑profile Nancy Guthrie investigation, intensifying scrutiny of Sheriff Chris Nanos and raising questions about use‑of‑force and operational procedures.