EL MIRAGE, AZ — The FBI operation was never about 40-year-old Melonee Duval. But what happened on June 19, 2019, cost Melonee her life.
“The whole situation. It was just. It’s insane. How can they shoot at somebody 22 times and call that reasonable?” said Melonee’s daughter, Adriyanna Navarette.
Melonee’s red pickup truck was riddled with bullets at U.S. 60 and Thompson Ranch Road during an FBI task force undercover investigation in El Mirage.
“Her car was shot at, glass was everywhere,” Adriyanna said.
She didn’t know at the time her mother was an FBI witness helping law enforcement capture a wanted suspect: A man her family said she was in a short-term relationship with.
“They know what they’ve done wrong,” Adriyanna said, “Stop abusing your power.”
Five years later, Adriyanna is still fighting for accountability. She has filed a federal lawsuit against the federal agent and deputy involved in the shooting and their law enforcement agencies.
“It’s one of the most horrifying, most tragic cases I’ve seen in my 48 years practicing law,” said the family’s attorney, Michael Burg.
Burg believes the FBI task force should have called off its operation.
“This was a plan that had gone awry. They knew there was a problem,” he said. “They decided to go in and, in my opinion, just cowboy it.”
According to court documents, Melonee was helping the FBI capture Ernesto Izaguirre, who was wanted on multiple felony warrants including aggravated assault, drugs and stealing cars.
“She was cooperating and talking to the FBI throughout this entire situation,” Burg said.
And for the first time, court records detail what her family says went wrong.
According to the lawsuit, the original plan was for Melonee to drive the wanted suspect to a Walmart and an FBI task force was going to arrest him.
“We showed up at Walmart and that’s when everything started getting really weird and Ernesto started acting really fidgety,” Adriyanna said.
Adriyanna got out of her mother’s truck minutes before the shooting. A 16-year-old girl, who survived, was also in the car.
When the original plan failed, officers tried a traffic stop nearby and surrounded Melonee’s truck on all four sides. Court documents allege officers conducted, “a boxing in and ramming tactic which is known to be dangerous.”
“We believe that he [the wanted suspect], while she was in the driver’s seat, hit the accelerator and pushed the car in front a very tiny distance,” explained Burg. “And at that point, they opened fire.”
“They were excessive about what they’ve done. 22 times she was shot at,” Adriyanna said.
The number of times Melonee was shot at is also mentioned in court records.
Court documents also allege the FBI task force knew the wanted suspect was going to turn violent and had a prior history of ramming through a roadblock.
“They knew she had been telling them,” Burg said.
Burg points to a text message as proof. The text exchange was found on one of the detective’s phones and was between Melonee and the FBI task force in the hours before the shooting. Melonee expressed concerns about going forward with the operation.
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She wrote in the text, “…he will take my truck and run if we're in it I can promise that.”
An officer responded, “U have to drive.”
Melonee wrote back, “I will.” Then added, “he will take [my] truck this time he told me if we ever got pulled over again.”
“They ignored it,” said Burg.
The lawsuit claims the shooting was both unlawful and unjustified. It also says no weapons were ever found in Melonee’s truck.
“Melonee Duval was never a suspect of any crime, yet her driver’s window was riddled with bullets,” the lawsuit says.
“An innocent person who’s not only a bystander, but someone who’s cooperating. This should never, ever happen again,” Burg said.
“I have to tell my children that they’ll never have a grandma,” Adriyanna said. “I’ll never stop fighting for my mom.”
ABC15 asked the FBI for comment on this case and for more specifics on Melonee’s role in their undercover operation. The FBI said, “the department declines this request.”
As for the investigation, the wanted suspect Ernesto Izaguirre was arrested that night and was released from prison last month, according to DOC records.
In court documents, the FBI has justified the shooting by saying other officers were in danger. But the family’s attorney said there is no evidence that’s the case and said they are prepared to take the case to trial.
