A 23-year-old Rust player from Tucson, Arizona, is suing police for $176 million after officers shot him and left him paralysed during a swatting incident he had specifically warned them was likely to happen. Axeel Melendez was shot in the leg and spine in April this year when two officers stormed his bedroom through the window responding to a false report of an active shooter, despite Melendez having called 911 two days earlier to alert them that he was being targeted by a hacker threatening to swat him.

Melendez had been hacked by a fellow Rust player who accessed his personal data and, after he refused to pay, threatened to send armed police or immigration officials to his home. Police reassured him at the time that nothing would happen, but two days later officers responded to a fake report that his father had shot his sister, smashed his bedroom window with a shovel, and opened fire after seeing his legally owned shotgun pointed from behind a door. Melendez, who had been wearing noise-cancelling headphones while gaming, says he will likely be paralysed from the waist down for life and is seeking damages for medical costs and lost wages; local police have declined to comment further.