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Rust Fan Sues Police After Swatting Incident Leaves Him Paralyzed
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.
In short
- Rust player paralysed after police shot him during a swatting incident
- He'd warned officers days earlier he was being targeted
- Now suing police for $176 million in damages
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Melendez explicitly warned police of the swatting threat two days prior, yet they failed to flag his address or brief responding officers. Despite advance notice, police responded with lethal force to someone in his own home with a lawful weapon. Police have a duty of care to exercise proportionate force, particularly when advance warning provided time to implement protective measures.
The case against
Officers responding to active shooter reports must act decisively with incomplete information. When they encountered someone pointing a gun at them, they faced an immediate threat. Police cannot feasibly flag every potential swatting target, and responsibility for this tragedy lies primarily with the swatter who created the false emergency, not with officers appropriately responding to available information.
Explained simply
Rust is an online survival game where players compete and sometimes form rivalries. Swatting is when someone makes a false emergency report to bring armed police to another person’s home; it can put residents and officers at risk.
Axeel Melendez says another Rust player accessed his personal information and threatened to send police to his home. He says he warned police about the threat before officers arrived in response to a false report. The case concerns what officers knew and did during that response, and the consequences for Melendez.