An updated lawsuit filed by the surviving family of a Native American man fatally shot by Border Patrol agents in 2023 names three agents attorneys say fired their weapons that night.
Raymond Mattia was killed in front of his home in the Tohono O’odham community of Menagers Dam in May of that year. Customs and Border Protection said Border Patrol agents and a tribal police officer were responding to a shots fired 911 call there.
Body camera footage released by the agency shows Mattia surrendering a sheathed knife to agents as they surround his property. They open fire moments after he raises his arms into the air as instructed. The family’s attorney Ryan Stitt says they filed a wrongful death suit after federal prosecutors declined to pursue criminal charges last year.
His team asked the court to require CBP to release the names of the Border Patrol agents who fired their weapons and hit Mattia that night, and filed an amended complaint with the information in December.
“The video shows the officers, or the agents rather, firing many many many rounds, dozens of rounds,” Still said. “We’re slowly starting to learn more about what happened, and that’s allowed us to amend the complaint and include publicly the names of the three Border Patrol agents who fired their weapons.”
In addition to the three individual agents, the filing also names the U.S. government as a defendant and argues both violated Mattia and his surviving family’s constitutional rights. They seek punitive and financial compensation for counts including battery, assault, excessive force and wrongful death.
A spokesperson said CBP doesn’t comment on pending litigation. In a response to Stiff’s amended complaint, the U.S. Attorney's Office argues several of the claims lack merit and asks the court to dismiss them. Stitt says he plans to file a response as well.
