The family of a Tohono O’odham tribal member, killed by border agents in front of his home last year, has filed a lawsuit against the federal government and the individual agents involved, whom federal officials have refused to identify so far.
Yvonne Nevarez speaks to the media about the shooting death of her uncle, Raymond Mattia. She spoke at a press conference Friday at the DeConcini United States Courthouse in downtown Tucson after Mattia’s family members filed suit over the 2023 shooting by Border Patrol agents.
The agents who shot Raymond Mattia, 58, are currently listed as “John Does” in the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Arizona. But attorneys for Mattia’s family said Friday they expect to amend the complaint with the agents’ identities after filing a motion to compel, forcing the government to name them.
“Our intention is to continue to come to court and at every instance hold the government accountable for the actions that it clearly should have held itself accountable for already,” Ryan Stitt, a San Diego-based attorney representing the family, said at a Friday press conference at the DeConcini U.S. Courthouse in downtown Tucson.
A screengrab from a Border Patrol video report detailing events that led to the fatal shooting of Raymond Mattia, a Tohono O’odham tribal member, includes footage from body worn cameras worn by agents who fired their weapons.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement last year that three of its agents fired on Mattia in the small Tohono O’odham village of Menagers Dam, after tribal police requested assistance in response to reports of gunfire. At least one Tohono O’odham tribal police officer was in the area, as well, CBP said.
Body-cam footage released by CBP shows Mattia illuminated by searchlights in front of his home on May 18, 2023. He throws an object toward the agents after they order him to drop what is in his hand. The object was a machete still in its sheath, agents later learned. Mattia then appears to reach into his jacket, and agents yell at him to remove his hand. As Mattia does so, a burst of gunfire follows.
“His compliance was met with a hail of gunfire,” Stitt said. “We will do everything in our power to hold them accountable for their egregious conduct.”
Last fall, Mattia’s family and leaders of the Tohono O’odham Nation decried federal prosecutors’ decision not to bring criminal charges against the agents involved. On Friday, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona said the agency stands by that decision.
“In our adversarial justice system, civil litigation is a search for the truth,” public affairs officer Zach Stoebe said in an email. “Mr. Mattia’s next of kin have able counsel, and will have the opportunity, under the lower standards of a civil case, to explore and examine the reasonableness of the actions of the Border Patrol agents who responded to the call for assistance. We stand by our criminal declination.”
The incident “does not rise to the level of a federal criminal civil rights violation or a criminal violation assimilated under Arizona law,” Stoebe previously said.
Raymond Mattia in a 2002 photo.
In November attorneys for the Mattia family filed their notice of intent to sue, in hopes the federal government would settle for $15 million in damages and answers to the family’s questions. The government continued to deny liability, prompting the lawsuit filing, attorneys said.
The complaint includes two federal claims alleging constitutional violations: use of excessive force and denial of familial association. It also includes several tort claims under Arizona law against individual agents, including negligence, wrongful death, assault and battery.
Stitt said Mattia’s killing reflects a broader social problem, in that Native Americans are disproportionately likely to experience use-of-force incidents by law enforcement.
On Friday, what would have been Mattia’s 59th birthday, members of Mattia’s family said they no longer feel safe in their own community. Joanna Mattia said she drives by the Border Patrol station and wonders if the agents who killed her cousin are still there.
Mattia’s niece, Yvonne Nevarez, said her family maintains his death was “an unjustified murder.”
WARNING: This video contains strong language and graphic content. Raymond Mattia, 58, was killed May 18 2023 in a shooting involving three U.S. Border Patrol agents. Video courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“We want those agencies involved ... to know you not only took the life of Raymond Mattia, but you forever changed the lives of his loved ones, his community and a whole nation of people,” Nevarez said. “If this continues to go without justice, then you have put the lives of all of us in danger. ... Please allow us to have justice for Raymond Mattia.”
