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{
"title": "Photojournalist shoved by police, knocked aside by horse at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-shoved-by-police-knocked-aside-by-horse-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-25T17:53:00.490701Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-25T17:53:00.490701Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-25T17:48:37.708053Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1mftl\">An unidentified photojournalist was shoved by multiple officers — one on horseback — while documenting an anti-deportation protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"c2lp1\">The demonstration was part of a series of protests that <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After protesters clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"fi84h\">Video footage captured by freelance journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel and provided to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker shows the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"3cr0a\">At roughly 47 seconds in, an individual carrying two professional cameras and wearing what appears to be a press ID is seen being pushed by two officers in riot gear. Moments later, a mounted officer rides directly into the journalist’s backpack with his horse, forcing the photographer to stumble forward.</p><p data-block-key=\"b4m0c\">The clip also captures the chaos as sirens blare and officers use aggressive tactics to disperse the crowd. In response to a request for comment, the Los Angeles Police Department directed the Tracker to its social media accounts.</p><p data-block-key=\"7nhvv\">In a June 9 news release <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1934663901607809139\">posted to the social platform X</a>, the department stated that it worked with multiple agencies to “restore public safety and respond to criminal activity” during the protest. The statement did not address the use of force against members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"3vn6h\">As of press time, the photojournalist in the video has not been identified.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"kl2py\">A police horse shoves an unidentified photojournalist covering a protest in downtown Los Angeles on June 8, 2025.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Unidentified photojournalist 39"
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{
"title": "Sheriff’s deputy searches journalist’s bag during LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sheriffs-deputy-searches-journalists-bag-during-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-10T20:43:52.603461Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-10T21:40:05.228651Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-10T21:40:05.127348Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"271ck\">A sheriff’s deputy searched L.A. Taco investigative journalist Lexis-Olivier Ray’s bag while he was reporting on an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"19bod\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"3l1hp\">Ray told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporters-bag-searched-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/\">another reporter, Joey Scott,</a> were trying to leave the protest and because of the excessive tear gas being deployed nearby, determined that the best course of action was to cross the law enforcement skirmish line.</p><p data-block-key=\"3b1ki\">“I saw two other journalists pass through just by showing their press passes,” Ray said.</p><p data-block-key=\"600lf\">But despite seeing their press badges, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy, who identified himself as a sergeant in a <a href=\"https://x.com/joeyneverjoe/status/1931921864504590699\">video Scott posted</a> to the social platform X, insisted the pair stop to have their bags searched.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In order for us to leave the tear gas we had to move pass the LASD skirmish line. LASD told us to they had to search our bags in order for us to leave. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ShotOn35mm</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/xY4YLwUKF5\">pic.twitter.com/xY4YLwUKF5</a></p>— Joey (@joeyneverjoe) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/joeyneverjoe/status/1931921864504590699?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 9, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"271ck\">“If you’d like to go this way, I want to inspect your backpack,” the deputy said. “If not, you can go that way. It’s up to you.”</p><p data-block-key=\"92kbc\">Shining his flashlight into Ray’s bag, the deputy directed him to continue opening the pockets of his backpack, according to <a href=\"https://x.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1931924134356984146\">another video of the incident,</a> posted by Ray. At one point, the deputy acknowledged that the pair were journalists, but said the request was reasonable and for the sake of other law enforcement officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"e7036\">“I’ve never been searched,” Ray is heard telling the deputy in the video.</p><p data-block-key=\"7lqhl\">“Nobody is asking to search you. I’m asking you to open your backpack to make sure you don’t have a bomb in there. Do you have a bomb in there?” the deputy asked.</p><p data-block-key=\"4nm6f\">Ray told the officer that he had no weapons.</p><p data-block-key=\"5u8h9\">“Journalists cross police lines all the time, they don’t get searched. It’s not practical to,” Ray told the deputy in the video Scott posted.</p><p data-block-key=\"bftp3\">“It is in this instance,” the deputy replied.</p><p data-block-key=\"dn5a9\">Ray told the Tracker that police don’t have the capability to search every journalist that goes through a skirmish line, and expressed concern that this could have a chilling effect on reporters.</p><p data-block-key=\"ado2\">“I could see law enforcement agencies potentially using these bag searches as a way to gain information about journalists or just to intimidate them or discourage them from crossing their lines,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"44n7u\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker June 10, the Sheriff’s Department said it prioritizes maintaining access for credentialed media, “especially during emergencies and critical incidents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9qb45\">“The LASD does not condone any actions that intentionally target members of the press, and we continuously train our personnel to distinguish and respect the rights of clearly identified journalists in the field,” a public information officer wrote. “We remain open to working with all media organizations to improve communication, transparency, and safety for all parties during public safety operations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"13f6u\">Ray was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-with-pepper-balls-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/\">struck by pepper balls fired by federal law enforcement</a> while covering another protest in downtown Los Angeles the previous day.</p><p data-block-key=\"c96mb\">The Tracker has documented other incidents in which Ray was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-repeatedly-shoved-while-covering-la-reproductive-rights-protests/\">shoved,</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-taco-reporter-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/\">detained,</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-tackled-equipment-damaged-while-covering-dodgers-celebrations/\">tackled</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multiple-journalists-covering-protests-los-angeles-assaulted/\">struck with a baton</a> while covering protests in Los Angeles since 2020.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Attachment-1.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"q5t30\">People console a man suffering from the effects of tear gas during an immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025. Lexis-Olivier Ray, who took the photo, had his bag searched while covering the protest.</p>",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "equipment bag"
}
],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"immigration",
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
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"Lexis-Olivier Ray (L.A. Taco)"
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{
"title": "TV news vehicle vandalized during LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tv-news-vehicle-vandalized-during-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-11T20:34:01.150422Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-12T18:37:18.920285Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-12T18:37:18.821506Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0bm3z\">At least one news van belonging to KTLA was seen being tagged with graffiti live on air during a news broadcast of an immigration enforcement protest on June 8, 2025, in downtown Los Angeles, California, the outlet <a href=\"https://ktla.com/news/local-news/waymos-lit-on-fire-ktla-van-defaced-as-los-angeles-protests-spin-out-of-control/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"e7mcr\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"5b99c\">During the live broadcast, reporter Rachel Menitoff addresses viewers while someone spray paints the KTLA news van behind her.</p><p data-block-key=\"b3jss\">“Discouraging to see this, people painting over our van,” Menitoff said. She then detailed the fear and anger felt by protesters over the immigration raids that sparked the public demonstrations.</p><p data-block-key=\"4aihv\">“This is the reason for these protests, but over the last couple of hours it’s kind of devolved into violence and chaos, and people have shared with us that their message is kind of getting lost as a result,” she said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As KTLA 5 reporter <a href=\"https://twitter.com/RachelMenitoff?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@RachelMenitoff</a> reported on the unrest near the federal building amid the ICE raids, our cameras caught a vandal spray painting our news van. This is among the many vehicles and property being damaged: <a href=\"https://t.co/PS0jAlUPdC\">https://t.co/PS0jAlUPdC</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/nCdCSUt0jK\">pic.twitter.com/nCdCSUt0jK</a></p>— KTLA (@KTLA) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KTLA/status/1931902521423036803?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 9, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0bm3z\">Neither Menitoff nor KTLA immediately responded to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"qhrco\">In this image montage, KTLA reporter Rachel Menitoff delivers a live broadcast as the station’s van is vandalized behind her during an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles on June 8, 2025.</p>",
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"immigration",
"protest"
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{
"title": "Reporter pushed, mic lost while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-pushed-mic-lost-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-24T16:23:12.151599Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-24T16:23:12.151599Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-24T16:23:12.048399Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"82szv\">Michelle Zacarias, a reporter for Caló News, was pushed by a Los Angeles Police Department officer and her microphone knocked off and lost while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"1dq5c\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/article/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and later the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"1gatf\">Zacarias told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that around 3 p.m. on June 8, she was following a protest march that started near the City Hall and was moving toward the nearby Federal Building. She was near the front of the march, wearing a press pass around her neck, and holding her camera and cellphone.</p><p data-block-key=\"di3fp\">As the crowd approached the Federal Building, Zacarias said she could see and smell tear gas.</p><p data-block-key=\"armli\">The LAPD created a line of scrimmage to meet the marchers on the sidewalk and started to push them back with their batons, yelling at them to clear the area. Zacarias, who said she is an amputee and visibly wears a prosthetic right leg, identified herself as media but the police continued to push her and others.</p><p data-block-key=\"8qr1c\">“I was pushed back by a police officer and kettled into a large crowd,” said Zacarias, “despite being both a reporter and disabled.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6bs6i\">As she was pushed back, the marchers became squashed together. At that point, she had to push her way out of the crowd to escape the confrontation. She said she sustained a minor lip injury from being pushed by an officer’s baton but felt well enough to continue reporting the rest of the day.</p><p data-block-key=\"5l00t\">Zacarias added that when she was pushed by police, an officer hit the microphone that was clipped to her chest, knocking it off. She said the microphone was lost and she had to buy a replacement.</p><p data-block-key=\"dk49s\">The incident was captured in footage filmed by Zacarias and <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKqGqKoSdXS/\">posted</a> on Instagram by Caló News. She <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DKqEo8shkjh/\">described the incident</a> in a separate Instagram post.</p><p data-block-key=\"fq6vr\">“I can say with certainty there was a clear disregard for media personnel and our rights to document,” she told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"b555c\">When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the Tracker to the department’s social media accounts, where statements and comments would be posted. The account does not appear to have posted any comment concerning Zacarias’ assault.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"zfcmh\">In this image montage, Caló News reporter Michelle Zacarias, left, describes being pushed by Los Angeles Police Department officers, right, while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown LA on June 8, 2025.</p>",
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{
"title": "Student reporter thrown and later detained at Bay Area immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-reporter-thrown-and-later-detained-at-bay-area-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-08-12T20:20:09.087940Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-08-12T20:20:09.087940Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-08-12T19:44:29.638898Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Francisco",
"longitude": -122.41942,
"latitude": 37.77493,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4rzam\">Student journalist Aarya Mukherjee was detained while covering an anti-deportation protest in San Francisco, California, on June 8, 2025. A police officer also grabbed Mukherjee by the arm earlier and threw him to the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"9s0am\">The protests were in solidarity with those that <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> in Los Angeles on June 6, following Trump administration immigration raids and the administration’s deployment of the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"6c6m3\">The June 8 protests in San Francisco began that evening outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in the city’s North Beach neighborhood, Mukherjee told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. He was on assignment for The Daily Californian — the student-run newspaper of the University of California, Berkeley — alongside fellow student journalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-detained-amid-san-francisco-immigration-protest\">Sam Grotenstein</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"csske\">Approximately an hour and a half later, Mukherjee said, protests and police began confronting each other, with officers attempting to advance their line further away from the ICE office.</p><p data-block-key=\"cq7kn\">“I guess they were trying to isolate and protect the federal building that some people were spray-painting and hitting with various objects,” Mukherjee said of the police, adding that they were indiscriminately throwing protesters and striking them with batons. “They grabbed me and threw me by my arm, even though, again, I was press. I had press credentials. I was announcing that I was press.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cpbe6\">After a prolonged standoff with San Francisco police, Grotenstein said, the protest split and police pursued demonstrators through the streets until everyone was corralled using a law enforcement tactic called kettling.</p><p data-block-key=\"86ctc\">In a <a href=\"https://x.com/Aarya_Muk/status/1931928185048068560\">post</a> on the social platform X, Mukherjee wrote, “Breaking: SFPD corralled roughly 100 protesters near Bush and Montgomery announcing ‘You are all under arrest.’”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Breaking: SFPD corralled roughly 100 protesters near Bush and Montgomery announcing “You are all under arrest”. <a href=\"https://t.co/IvQ4QT6vMN\">pic.twitter.com/IvQ4QT6vMN</a></p>— Aarya Mukherjee (@Aarya_Muk) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Aarya_Muk/status/1931928185048068560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 9, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4rzam\">Approximately 30 minutes later, officers announced that people accompanied by minors and those with press credentials could leave. Mukherjee had a physical press pass and was allowed to exit the kettle. Grotenstein, who only had digital press credentials, was held for an additional 30 minutes until Mukherjee and the Daily Cal’s managing editor convinced police to release him.</p><p data-block-key=\"2rner\">The San Francisco Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"1e6bc\">The following night, both <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-detained-shot-at-with-pepper-balls-at-bay-area-protest\">Mukherjee</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-detained-shoved-by-police-amid-bay-area-protest\">Grotenstein</a> were similarly detained and both assaulted by police while covering further anti-deportation protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"dvrh8\">The Daily Cal condemned the detentions in a June 10 <a href=\"https://www.dailycal.org/opinion/editor-s-note-condemning-sfpd-s-detention-of-daily-cal-staffers-and-suppression-of-student/article_3a306ca7-0a14-428a-8eb6-c3b01b9ffea7.html\">editor’s note</a>, writing, “While our staffers were released after about an hour, their detainment prevented them from reporting on the events of the night and, most importantly, actively threatened their safety.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Mukherjee_6_8_arrest-assault.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"anbfb\">Demonstrators march toward an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in San Francisco on June 8, 2025. Student journalist Aarya Mukherjee was thrown to the ground and later detained by police while covering the anti-deportation protests.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "San Francisco Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": "2025-06-08",
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"tags": [
"immigration",
"kettle",
"protest",
"student journalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
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"Aarya Mukherjee (The [UC Berkeley] Daily Californian)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Reporter hit by crowd-control munition while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-hit-by-crowd-control-munition-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-25T18:36:18.514385Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-25T18:36:18.514385Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-25T18:36:18.392663Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jaisp\">Sergio Olmos, an investigative reporter for CalMatters, was struck in the chest by a crowd-control munition fired by police officers while covering an immigration protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"dkqk9\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/article/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"a2dqt\">Olmos told <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2025/06/09/journalists-injured-la-protests/\">The Washington Post</a> that he was wearing a press pass and <a href=\"https://x.com/MrOlmos/status/1931816889992573095\">shooting</a> video of a protest a few blocks from a complex of federal buildings when Los Angeles Police Department officers shot crowd-control munitions at demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"4e60f\">In a video of the incident <a href=\"https://x.com/mrolmos/status/1931881207073264118\">posted</a> by the reporter on the social platform X, police can be seen firing into the crowd, and then the camera angle moves to the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"55qh3\">Olmos told the Post that he was hit with what he believed was a 40 mm sponge grenade. “I got hit in the chest and it’s a moment of, ‘What the f---?’” He said he put his camera down momentarily to check that he was OK.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A less lethal round hits this reporter in the chest <a href=\"https://t.co/7fQWGOcihp\">pic.twitter.com/7fQWGOcihp</a></p>— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1931881207073264118?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 9, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jaisp\">In an <a href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletter/california-legislature-news-roundup-2025-newsletter/\">interview</a> in CalMatters, Olmos said that on the day he was hit, police fired more less-lethal rounds in a single day of protests than he’d ever seen.</p><p data-block-key=\"ekm9t\">“California law enforcements are trained not to shoot these less-lethal rounds at the head and neck area because they can cause severe injuries. And you’re not supposed to use them to disperse people. But the LAPD is using them to move crowds back, which goes against their training,” he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"6l1ns\">Olmos did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"3s0ra\">When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to the department’s social media accounts, where statements and comments would be posted. The account does not appear to have posted any comment concerning Olmos’ assault.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"dmu6q\">A Los Angeles Police Department officer fires a crowd-control munition near the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown LA on June 8, 2025. CalMatters reporter Sergio Olmos was struck with a round while covering an immigration protest that day.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sergio Olmos (CalMatters)"
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist struck in head, leg with crowd-control munitions amid LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-in-head-leg-with-crowd-control-munitions-amid-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-02T14:01:29.843029Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-02T14:01:29.843029Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-02T14:01:29.659355Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"uvxq9\">Freelance photojournalist Ted Soqui was shot by federal officers in the face and shin with a pepper ball and rubber bullet while covering anti-deportation protests in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"e41ko\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with local law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"as83l\">According to a June 18 <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70581520/1/los-angeles-press-club-v-kristi-noem/\">lawsuit</a> filed by the Los Angeles Press Club against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Soqui had been documenting the protests at LA’s Federal Building each day from around 11 a.m. until early evening.</p><p data-block-key=\"3pipv\">On June 8, Soqui was reporting alongside other journalists, standing approximately 15 feet from both demonstrators and federal officers, according to the suit. The photojournalist, who has covered protests throughout his decades-long career, said the protest was tense but that escalation did not seem imminent.</p><p data-block-key=\"ud5n\">As DHS officers pushed back protesters, Soqui was struck in the left cheekbone with a pepper ball and in the right shin with a rubber bullet.</p><p data-block-key=\"alclp\">There was no marked perimeter, audible dispersal order or warning that DHS agents would use force, according to the lawsuit, and the shootings of Soqui were “misuses of militarized weapons.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3fhgh\">“The way federal agents used pepper balls here can cause significant and serious harm,” it continued.</p><p data-block-key=\"3l6ov\">Although the incident left Soqui feeling “shaken and upset,” according to the lawsuit, he still returned the following day to continue reporting and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-shot-with-rubber-bullets-by-federal-officers-at-la-protest\">was struck again</a> with multiple crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"b9qac\">Soqui did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. While his experiences were detailed in the LA Press Club’s lawsuit, he is not listed as a plaintiff.</p><p data-block-key=\"2in1i\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged journalists to be cautious while covering what she characterized as “violent riots,” and added, “President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP25160171601458.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ayig7\">Protesters face off with police in downtown Los Angeles on June 8, 2025. Freelance photojournalist Ted Soqui was shot with crowd-control munitions that day while covering the protests against immigration enforcement raids.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Ted Soqui (Freelance)"
],
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{
"title": "Student journalist struck by crowd-control munitions amid Compton protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-struck-by-crowd-control-munitions-amid-compton-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-08-05T20:52:32.460090Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-08-05T20:52:32.460090Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-08-05T20:52:32.302199Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Compton",
"longitude": -118.22007,
"latitude": 33.89585,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"e427v\">Jake Crandall, a student photojournalist for Santa Monica College’s The Corsair, was hit with a pepper ball and a stun grenade while documenting an anti-deportation protest in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"chd92\">Crandall was at one of a series of protests that <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered in and around LA, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with local law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines, despite objections from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"coo89\">Crandall was photographing a confrontation between demonstrators and deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, who had formed a skirmish line at a nearby intersection. Protesters had dragged dumpsters and other debris into the street to build a makeshift blockade. While crouched behind a car for cover, Crandall was struck in the leg by a pepper ball fired by deputies, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. He said no protesters were nearby at the moment.</p><p data-block-key=\"elbeh\">“I don’t know if it was necessarily targeted at me, but it definitely had to have been a careless error shooting at me,” Crandall said.</p><p data-block-key=\"24cq4\">Later on, he moved toward a wall where journalists had gathered, a spot law enforcement had previously directed the press to stand. As he approached, a stinger grenade, which releases rubber pellets and chemical irritants, exploded at his feet. He identified the device, which coated his lower body with powder, by its residue and a photo he took of one used during the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"cdk4a\">Crandall was standing about 10 feet from other clearly identified journalists at the time and wearing visibly marked press gear himself, he recounted. He said a protester was standing about 20 feet away from him at the time.</p><p data-block-key=\"dq22c\">In the surrounding days of news coverage, Crandall said he saw fellow journalists arrested, struck with crowd-control munitions and taken to the hospital. He was also <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-pepper-sprayed-at-la-immigration-protest/\">pepper-sprayed</a>, shot with a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-hit-by-pepper-ball-at-la-immigration-protest/\">pepper ball</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-detained-hit-by-crowd-control-rounds-at-la-protest/\">detained by police</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"5u594\">“It definitely makes me feel a lot less safe than I have before,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"dabha\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker on June 10, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it does not condone any actions that intentionally target the press and prioritizes maintaining access for credentialed media, “especially during emergencies and critical incidents.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"o3xh0\">Law enforcement gather at a protest near the cities of Compton and Paramount in California on June 7, 2025. Student photojournalist Jake Crandall was hit with crowd-control munitions while documenting it.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"student journalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jake Crandall (The [Santa Monica College] Corsair)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Univision video journalist targeted with pepper balls during LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/univision-video-journalist-targeted-with-pepper-balls-during-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-10T16:37:14.268269Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-16T13:44:10.731841Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-16T13:44:10.618620Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jn3ri\">Raúl Gutiérrez, a video journalist for KMEX-DT, Univision’s Los Angeles affiliate, was targeted with crowd-control munitions while covering a protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"cqtdc\">The protest was part of a wave of demonstrations that began <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 6,</a> following a series of immigration raids across LA. Federal agents targeted worksites and locations where immigrant day laborers congregated, prompting widespread unrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"38hkb\">As confrontations between protesters and law enforcement escalated, President Donald Trump deployed the California National Guard and later the U.S. Marines, despite opposition by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"cspst\">In a <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/shoton35mm.bsky.social/post/3lr3dvqv4j22p\">video</a> posted to the social platform Bluesky by L.A. Taco journalist Lexis-Olivier Ray, federal officers can be seen firing pepper balls as journalists — some clearly displaying press credentials — retreat. The Los Angeles Press Club later identified Gutiérrez and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/univision-reporter-targeted-with-pepper-balls-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/\">reporter Victor Cordero</a> as the KMEX journalists seen in the clip. Gutiérrez did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"e6q89\">In a statement to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Univision News President Daniel Coronell said that the affected reporters were OK and continued to do their job despite the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"5f0qm\">“We condemn any type of aggression against those who fulfill their duty to inform citizens,” Coronell added. “The authorities must protect journalistic work and guarantee access and safety in places of newsworthy locations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6msgt\">It’s unclear which federal agency was deploying the crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"6l00o\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged journalists to be cautious while covering what she characterized as “violent riots,” and added that President Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem “are committed to restoring law and order.”</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"oggav\">Video journalist Raúl Gutiérrez of KMEX-DT retreats as federal police deploy crowd-control munitions during an immigration protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025.</p>",
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"name": "California",
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"tags": [
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"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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{
"title": "Photojournalist shot with crowd-control munition at LA-area protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-shot-with-crowd-control-munition-at-la-area-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-17T18:58:37.259095Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-23T18:38:28.272300Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-23T18:38:28.150753Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Compton",
"longitude": -118.22007,
"latitude": 33.89585,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f16d0\">Freelance photojournalist J.W. Hendricks was shot with a crowd-control munition while documenting anti-deportation protests in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"5c9j3\">The protests<a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\"> began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with local law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"5d237\">Demonstrations the following day were centered around a Home Depot in Paramount, a predominantly Latino suburb of Los Angeles, after Border Patrol agents were spotted nearby, the Los Angeles Times <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-08/what-actually-happened-at-the-paramount-home-depot\">reported</a>. Deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department arrived to aid in the protest response.</p><p data-block-key=\"ao59p\">Hendricks told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he arrived at approximately 6:30 p.m., and noted that the protests that night unfolded along a single block in Compton.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ms3h\">“On the east intersection was the sheriff’s skirmish line with the military-looking vehicles and the rapid deployment barrier, which we all just called ‘The Slinky,’” Hendricks said. “And on the opposing intersection, where the doughnut shop is, that’s where most people were hanging out, kind of watching from afar, and the closer you got to the sheriff’s intersection, the protesters were more and more spread out.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media right\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Hendricks_CA_assault_6_7.width-828.jpg\" width=\"750\" height=\"1000\" alt=\"COURTESY J.W. HENDRICKS\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"0ewb5\">Freelance photojournalist J.W. Hendricks was shot with a crowd-control munition by law enforcement while covering anti-deportation protests in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025. The impact caused his skin to tear and left a large bruise.</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — COURTESY J.W. HENDRICKS\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f16d0\">As night began to fall, Hendricks said he was approximately 100 feet from the skirmish line when shot in the leg with an unidentified crowd-control munition.</p><p data-block-key=\"k9je\">He told Adam Rose, press rights chair of the LA Press Club, that there had been a lull in officers firing. “Then it felt like a high-speed rock hit my leg. I was wearing a vest that said in gigantic letters, ‘PRESS.’ Not sure what they used.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4cgrq\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged journalists to be cautious while covering what she characterized as “violent riots,” and added, “President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b2gl8\">The Sheriff’s Department told the Tracker via email on June 10 that it prioritizes maintaining access for credentialed media, “especially during emergencies and critical incidents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e38gf\">“The LASD does not condone any actions that intentionally target members of the press, and we continuously train our personnel to distinguish and respect the rights of clearly identified journalists in the field,” a public information officer wrote. “We remain open to working with all media organizations to improve communication, transparency, and safety for all parties during public safety operations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4bono\"><i>Editor's Note: This article has been updated with additional information from J.W. Hendricks.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Hendricks_CA_assault.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"fkov6\">LA County sheriff’s deputies behind a mobile barrier during an anti-deportation protest in Paramount, California, on June 7, 2025. Photojournalist J.W. Hendricks was shot with a crowd-control munition after the protest was pushed into neighboring Compton.</p>",
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"shot / shot at"
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{
"title": "Photojournalist struck by pepper pellets, tear-gassed while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-by-pepper-pellets-tear-gassed-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-13T21:26:51.738360Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-13T21:26:51.738360Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-13T21:26:51.645435Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1ue4w\">An unidentified photojournalist was part of the KNBC television crew struck with pepper balls and caught in tear gas while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025, the outlet reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"793p6\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/article/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"c64hr\">In a <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKp4fugB0Am/?igsh=aGxzbmFzbXo2Zm5p\">video</a> posted by KNBC TV’s Mekahlo Medina on social media, the reporter said that at about 8:30 p.m. on June 7, a mix of Los Angeles Police Department officers and federal agents pushed through crowds of protesters outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants were being held. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-by-pepper-pellets-and-tear-gas-while-covering-la-protest/\">Medina said he and his crew were shot by pepper pellets</a> and affected by tear gas, and later took cover behind a news truck.</p><p data-block-key=\"bbi1k\">“A rough night in downtown LA as journalists, along with protesters, shot at with pepper pellets and tear gas,” Medina said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ddg6t\">In <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKoDXJguulB/?igsh=ejdmeG80eHZiMnd6\">another video</a>, he said that one of the station’s photographers was also hit by the projectiles, which he said were deployed by the LAPD. Medina did not return the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"brv5o\">When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the Tracker to the department’s social media accounts. In a statement posted to X, the department said it was responding to “significant acts of violence, vandalism, and looting” and worked through the night to restore public safety.</p><p data-block-key=\"fls9a\">“Multiple deployments of less-lethal munitions were necessary to manage the crowds and prevent further harm to people or property,” the statement read, before adding that its professional standards bureau would be investigating allegations of excessive force used during the protests.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP25159833549699.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"085sb\">Police outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025. At a protest the night before, an unidentified KNBC photographer was struck with pepper balls.</p>",
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"name": "California",
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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"Unidentified photojournalist 37 (KNBC)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Reporter struck by pepper pellets and tear gas while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-by-pepper-pellets-and-tear-gas-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-13T18:07:05.550562Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-13T21:27:50.630858Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-13T21:27:50.546176Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"267cz\">Reporter Mekahlo Medina and his KNBC television crew were struck with pepper balls and tear gas while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025, the outlet reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"bq3bq\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/article/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"9hg9i\">In a <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKp4fugB0Am/?igsh=aGxzbmFzbXo2Zm5p\">video</a> posted on social media by Medina, the reporter said that at about 8:30 p.m. on June 7, a mix of Los Angeles Police Department officers and federal agents pushed through crowds of protesters outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants were being held.</p><p data-block-key=\"dedfo\">Medina — who was wearing a press vest — said approximately 20 minutes later he and his crew were shot by pepper pellets and affected by tear gas, and later took cover behind a news truck.</p><p data-block-key=\"eo3ni\">“A rough night in downtown LA as journalists, along with protesters, shot at with pepper pellets and tear gas,” Medina said, showing white powder on his press vest, as well as on the back of a man he identified as his security guard.</p><p data-block-key=\"9todd\">In <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKoDXJguulB/?igsh=ejdmeG80eHZiMnd6\">another video</a>, Medina said that one of his photographers was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-by-pepper-pellets-tear-gassed-while-covering-la-protest/\">also hit by the projectiles</a>, which he said were deployed by the LAPD.</p><p data-block-key=\"d1o5b\">When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to the department’s social media accounts. In a statement posted to X, the department said it was responding to “significant acts of violence, vandalism, and looting” and worked through the night to restore public safety.</p><p data-block-key=\"crslm\">“Multiple deployments of less-lethal munitions were necessary to manage the crowds and prevent further harm to people or property,” the statement read, before adding that its professional standards bureau would be investigating allegations of excessive force used during the protests.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">LAPD Releases Information Related to Recent Protests <a href=\"https://t.co/XDNnngM5ty\">pic.twitter.com/XDNnngM5ty</a></p>— LAPD PIO (@LAPDPIO) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDPIO/status/1932838116722982997?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"267cz\">Also on June 7, Medina was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/officer-pushes-reporter-in-press-vest-at-la-immigration-protest/\">pushed by a federal agent</a> with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He did not immediately return a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/combined.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"sqwdo\">KNBC TV reporter Mekahlo Medina was struck with pepper balls and tear gas during a protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025.</p>",
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"case_number": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist hit by crowd-control munition while covering protest near LA",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-hit-by-crowd-control-munition-while-covering-protest-near-la/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-16T20:03:56.454326Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-16T20:03:56.454326Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-16T20:03:56.359096Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Compton",
"longitude": -118.22007,
"latitude": 33.89585,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ynw34\">Photojournalist Ringo Chiu was hit in the waist by an impact projectile fired by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies while covering anti-deportation protests in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"5s26v\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"7fvqm\">Demonstrations the following day were centered around a Home Depot in Paramount, a predominantly Latino suburb of Los Angeles, after Border Patrol agents were spotted nearby, the Los Angeles Times<a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-08/what-actually-happened-at-the-paramount-home-depot\"> reported</a>. That protest spread to the adjacent city of Compton.</p><p data-block-key=\"1k62c\">Chiu, who was freelancing for news agency Agence France-Presse, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that at around 4 p.m., at an intersection in Compton, he saw some protesters throwing rocks and other objects at Sheriff’s Department deputies, who responded with crowd-control munitions including tear gas, flash bangs and foam-tipped projectiles to disperse the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"1eb72\">Chiu was wearing a bulletproof vest labeled “PRESS” in all caps on the front and back, and a similarly marked helmet, and was carrying three professional cameras.</p><p data-block-key=\"e1ujs\">After the sun went down, he said the situation became more chaotic. “Protesters continued to throw rocks, fireworks and other items, and I no longer felt safe. I ran to a parking lot in front of nearby stores.”</p><p data-block-key=\"28k3\">While he was in the parking lot, he was hit on the left side of his waist by a 40 mm foam-tipped impact projectile. He said his injury was not serious.</p><p data-block-key=\"feeqb\">Chiu added: “I can’t say for sure if I was targeted, but I believe I should not have been shot, especially while standing in a location where most media had gathered. We considered that parking lot a safe zone, and expected law enforcement to treat it that way.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ff1ro\">Chiu emphasized that the experience made it harder for him to do his job. “As a photojournalist who often works on the front lines, wearing heavy gear and a mask makes it difficult to move and capture photos. More importantly, the risk to our safety now feels higher.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2c07o\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker on June 10, the Sheriff’s Department said it prioritizes maintaining access for credentialed media, “especially during emergencies and critical incidents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2ptfe\">“The LASD does not condone any actions that intentionally target members of the press, and we continuously train our personnel to distinguish and respect the rights of clearly identified journalists in the field,” a public information officer wrote. “We remain open to working with all media organizations to improve communication, transparency, and safety for all parties during public safety operations.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Chiu_CA_assault.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"2ofrh\">This image montage shows photojournalist Ringo Chiu, left, in the gear he wore June 7, 2025, when he was hit in the torso with a projectile fired by LA County sheriff’s deputies as he covered an immigration protest in Compton, California.</p>",
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"name": "California",
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"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
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],
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},
{
"title": "Reporter struck in head with munition by federal officers at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-in-head-with-munition-by-federal-officers-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-02T20:39:44.087317Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-09-11T19:50:21.877436Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-09-11T19:50:21.697932Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Compton",
"longitude": -118.22007,
"latitude": 33.89585,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0lsrk\">Ryanne Mena, a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News, was shot in the head with a crowd-control munition by federal officers while documenting anti-deportation protests in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"comqe\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with local law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"6khgm\">Demonstrations the following day were centered around a Home Depot in Paramount, a predominantly Latino suburb of Los Angeles, after Border Patrol agents were spotted nearby, the Los Angeles Times<a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-08/what-actually-happened-at-the-paramount-home-depot\"> reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7t2f9\">Mena told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she arrived at approximately 3:30 p.m. and began interviewing a few individuals who had been injured by Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department deputies, who had fired crowd-control munitions at the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"qorf\">“Then 4:30 p.m. rolls by and I’m like, ‘OK, things are relatively mellow. I think I’m going to get ready to head out,” she said. “Then I see three to four dozen federal officers emerge from this warehouse area across the street from the Home Depot that was raided earlier in the morning.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8r3af\">Mena noted that there weren’t many protesters around and she hadn’t observed any antagonistic behavior from the protesters, but officers began firing crowd-control munitions at the crowd without issuing a warning, sending her and independent journalist <a href=\"/all-incidents/journalist-hit-in-head-with-tear-gas-canister-at-immigration-protest/\">Sean Beckner-Carmitchel</a> running for safety.</p><p data-block-key=\"do35h\">“We’re kind of just trying to find a place to go where we won’t get hit, but we didn’t have a lot of time,” Mena told the Tracker. “So they began shooting at the crowd and I think we were both shot in the head at almost the exact same time: I’m hit with a rubber ball bullet to my head an inch above my right ear.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media right\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Mena_assault_67.width-828.jpg\" width=\"720\" height=\"1280\" alt=\"COURTESY RYANNE MENA\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"2hrmn\">Los Angeles Daily News reporter Ryanne Mena was photographed moments after she was struck in the head with a rubber bullet fired by federal officers responding to anti-deportation protests in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025.</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — COURTESY RYANNE MENA\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0lsrk\">She added that the munition hit the thick edge of her baseball cap, which may have lessened the impact.</p><p data-block-key=\"p7hg\">Beckner-Carmitchel was struck in the forehead with some type of canister, he told the Tracker. The journalists were almost immediately surrounded by tear gas, Mena said, which was particularly debilitating because she has asthma.</p><p data-block-key=\"54tvc\">“I just kind of grab Sean’s arm and he leads us around the corner so we can get away from all the tear gas and the firing,” she told the Tracker. “And then we wash our eyes out and document each other’s injuries.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8k0eo\">She said that she was wearing two press credentials — one issued by her news outlet and one by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. “It was very clear I was there working as a journalist.”</p><p data-block-key=\"sesl\">Mena, who had also been <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-with-pepper-ball-by-federal-officers-at-la-protest\">shot with a pepper ball</a> by federal officers the previous day, said that she got a severe headache later that day and threw up that evening. She ultimately went to an urgent care center two days later and was diagnosed with a concussion.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ang1\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged journalists to be cautious while covering what she characterized as “violent riots,” and added, “President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1r8c8\"><a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2025-06-07&date_upper=2025-06-07&city=Compton&state=California\">Multiple journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the demonstrations in Compton and Paramount that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"dm66c\">Mena told the Tracker that she had been cleared by her newsroom to go back out to cover protests June 12, and her willingness to cover demonstrations and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids was in no way diminished.</p><p data-block-key=\"24u7s\">“This is not going to turn me at all from this coverage,” she said. “It’s motivating me to go even harder with my reporting, because it is so important what’s going on and they’re not going to silence the press.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"q46q1\">In this skewed screenshot from footage taken at a June 7, 2025, anti-deportation protest in Compton, California, Los Angeles Daily News reporter Ryanne Mena is seen ducking for cover after she was shot in the head with a rubber bullet by federal officers.</p>",
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"(2025-06-18 04:00:00+00:00) LA journalist sues DHS over protest assault"
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{
"title": "Munition strikes photojournalist at LA protest, shrapnel surgically removed",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/munition-strikes-photojournalist-at-la-protest-shrapnel-surgically-removed/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-12T20:52:23.427380Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-12T20:52:23.427380Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-12T20:52:15.369716Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
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"city": "Compton",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ymu58\">Independent photojournalist Nick Stern required surgery after he was struck in the leg with a crowd-control munition while documenting protests in the California cities of Compton and Paramount on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"1439m\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"3sf9v\">Demonstrations the following day were centered around a Home Depot in Paramount, a predominantly Latino suburb of Los Angeles, after Border Patrol agents were spotted nearby, the Los Angeles Times <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-08/what-actually-happened-at-the-paramount-home-depot\">reported</a>. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies formed a police line blocking the bridge that led to the Home Depot and connected Paramount to the adjacent city of Compton.</p><p data-block-key=\"aqj53\">Stern told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he and his colleague Tina-Desiree Berg arrived to document the mounting protest at around 3 p.m., and found a standoff along the skirmish line.</p><p data-block-key=\"ato9p\">“Things went backward and forward,” Stern said. “The Sheriff’s Department firing projectiles, throwing these kinds of stun grenades, firing pepper pellets at people. People responding by throwing things like bottles of water and small bits of concrete.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9r6sn\">He said it continued until night fell, at which point the deputies moved their line back. Meanwhile, some demonstrators had assembled a makeshift barricade to protect themselves from the crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"faeo0\">Shortly before 9 p.m., Stern said, he was documenting protesters holding Mexican flags illuminated by the shining headlights of the deputies’ vehicles in the distance when he felt a sudden, immense pain.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ddpr\">“I felt this incredible, painful impact into my right side. I immediately put my hand down there and in the dark I saw this kind of solid object that appeared to be part of my leg,” Stern told the Tracker. “I hobbled away shouting, ‘I’ve been hit! I’ve been hit!’”</p><p data-block-key=\"dfgaj\">He said a group of protesters carried him to safety and a medic <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DKov0doxoEH/?hl=en&img_index=1\">worked to stabilize him</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"6trej\">“A medic came over, cut my pants off with some scissors, put a pad onto the wound — which was about a two-inch diameter, circular hole in my leg — and then tightly wrapped a bandage around it,” Stern said. “I was sitting on the pavement and I actually passed out, and the medics brought me back round, which is fucking terrifying, if I’m honest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cmjts\">Berg was then able to transport Stern to the emergency room with him lying in the back seat while his wound continued to gush blood. At the hospital, Stern said, the doctors thoroughly examined him.</p><p data-block-key=\"fs8e\">“They looked over my entire body — from the soles of my feet to the top of my head and under my arms — to see if they could find an exit wound for a bullet, because they figured it may well have been a live round,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ntq5\">In a <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/tinadesireeberg.com/post/3lr7gxv4fsc25\">post</a> on the social platform Bluesky, Berg later confirmed that doctors surgically removed what appears to be a portion of a stun grenade that was embedded deep in Stern’s leg.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Stern_CA_assult_67.width-828.jpg\" width=\"828\" height=\"512\" alt=\"COURTESY NICK STERN\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"j6ury\">Independent photojournalist Nick Stern was struck in the leg with a crowd-control munition while covering protests in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025. A nearly three-inch piece of a stun grenade was surgically removed from his thigh.</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — COURTESY NICK STERN\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ymu58\">Stern, who has documented protests in Los Angeles for at least five years, said that what he witnessed at these demonstrations was different.</p><p data-block-key=\"arhnp\">“I was covering the George Floyd protests in 2020, and law enforcement in Los Angeles was heavily criticized for their use of these devices because they weren’t trained on them,” he said. “But to see what they were doing out on the streets the past few days, last week is absolutely horrific. Effectively — if what we assume is correct, about this device that hit me — they’re firing explosive munitions toward people.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ab9jo\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker June 10, the Sheriff’s Department said it was still reviewing footage of Stern’s assault and that “it is not clear at this time whether our department was involved in this incident.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dj8ja\">“The LASD does not condone any actions that intentionally target members of the press, and we continuously train our personnel to distinguish and respect the rights of clearly identified journalists in the field,” a public information officer added. “We remain open to working with all media organizations to improve communication, transparency, and safety for all parties during public safety operations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"59cqa\">Stern said that while he has been released from the hospital, he has a long road to recovery — including extensive physical therapy — ahead of him.</p><p data-block-key=\"7h2c2\">After police shot Stern with multiple munitions and struck him with batons <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-hit-with-multiple-projectiles-while-covering-la-protest/\">amid the 2020 protests</a>, the photojournalist filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department and reached a $150,000 settlement in 2024. He told the Tracker he thinks he has no choice but to pursue that same recourse.</p><p data-block-key=\"4inn3\">“This whole kind of lawsuit culture in the U.S. is quite alien for me, as a British person, and is one that I don’t necessarily, deep down, agree with, but there seems to be no other accountability,” Stern said. “I think, as a member of the public, as a citizen, as a journalist, whatever: It has to be a multipronged approach. It has to be done by official complaints, it has to be done by lobbying politicians, it has to be done by lawsuits.</p><p data-block-key=\"272dk\">“The system needs to change by whatever means we can change it.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"701n8\">Protesters help independent photographer Nick Stern after he was struck in the leg with a crowd-control munition while documenting a protest in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025. A portion of a stun grenade was later surgically removed from his thigh.</p>",
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"shot / shot at"
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{
"title": "Agency photojournalist grazed by shrapnel at LA-area protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/agency-photojournalist-grazed-by-shrapnel-at-la-area-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-15T17:48:29.837314Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-08-18T16:20:26.620993Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-08-18T16:20:26.488967Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Compton",
"longitude": -118.22007,
"latitude": 33.89585,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8ynxq\">Chelsea Lauren, a staff photographer for Shutterstock, was struck by shrapnel from a stun grenade deployed by law enforcement while documenting anti-deportation protests in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"51qsq\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"c7ep6\">Demonstrations the following day were centered around a Home Depot in Paramount, a predominantly Latino suburb of Los Angeles, after Border Patrol agents were spotted nearby, the Los Angeles Times <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-08/what-actually-happened-at-the-paramount-home-depot\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"e3mrf\">As the evening progressed, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies formed a line blocking the bridge that led to the Home Depot and connected Paramount to the adjacent city of Compton.</p><p data-block-key=\"7kbhn\">Lauren told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the deputies were deploying stun grenades throughout the evening.</p><p data-block-key=\"4necr\">“They were throwing them out like crazy,” she said, “and a piece of shrapnel just kind of grazed my shoulder. I was standing among the protesters at that one, so that one wasn’t so alarming to me. It hurt, but I feel like that’s kind of a hazard of the job.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6i9cs\">Lauren noted that law enforcement was more violent that day than at any prior protest that they had documented, including throughout 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"7sbvi\">“I have never been in a situation where less-lethals were fired so rapidly for such an extended period of time. The flash bangs were like, ‘Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,’ and they weren’t stopping,” she said. “It was honestly terrifying. It felt like a war zone.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9di4j\">Lauren was also <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/agency-photojournalist-shot-with-crowd-control-munitions-at-la-protest/\">shot with multiple crowd-control munitions</a> while documenting protests in LA two days later.</p><p data-block-key=\"ct885\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker on June 10, the Sheriff’s Department said it prioritizes maintaining access for credentialed media, “especially during emergencies and critical incidents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"au8br\">“The LASD does not condone any actions that intentionally target members of the press, and we continuously train our personnel to distinguish and respect the rights of clearly identified journalists in the field,” a public information officer wrote. “We remain open to working with all media organizations to improve communication, transparency, and safety for all parties during public safety operations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8qq0a\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article was updated on Aug. 18, 2025, following an additional assault against the photojournalist, Chelsea Lauren, who then elected to have her experiences documented under her name.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"twxe1\">Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies advance during a protest in Paramount, California, on June 7, 2025. Shutterstock photographer Chelsea Lauren was injured by stun grenade shrapnel after deputies pushed the demonstration across the bridge to Compton.</p>",
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"name": "California",
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{
"title": "Reporter struck with pepper balls while covering LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-with-pepper-balls-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-10T21:37:27.667375Z",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8eeh9\">Lexis-Olivier Ray, an investigative reporter for L.A. Taco, was struck with multiple pepper balls while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"1rt2n\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"64coj\">On the evening of June 7, protesters <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/06/08/us/la-immigration-protests-photos-map.html\">gathered</a> <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-aide-calls-los-angeles-anti-ice-protests-an-insurrection-2025-06-07/\">outside</a> the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where immigrants were being held. The Los Angeles Police Department declared an unlawful assembly, ordering demonstrators to disperse. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was also present, as well as officers from multiple federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.</p><p data-block-key=\"1j6lu\">Ray told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building, where detainees were <a href=\"https://abc7.com/post/immigrant-advocates-demand-investigation-reports-ice-holding-families-downtown-la/16678054/\">allegedly being held,</a> when federal law enforcement began dispersing the crowd using pepper balls. He said he was unsure which agency the officers belonged to.</p><p data-block-key=\"9fol7\">Ray then relocated to a nearby sidewalk on Alameda Street, where reporters had set up tripods and several TV news trucks were parked.</p><p data-block-key=\"dejt1\">Eventually, the federal officers moved up their skirmish line toward Alameda Street, continuing to fire volleys of the projectiles in the direction of the press. Ray was struck multiple times, once in the middle finger and at least once on his back, he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"ueo4\">“It seemed so blatant, we weren’t around any protesters, we were clearly media,” Ray said. “They didn’t seem to care that we were media. They treated us like we were protesters and didn’t respect our First Amendment rights as journalists.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hbam\">The gaggle of press continued to back away as officers followed them, eventually establishing another skirmish at Alameda Street and Temple Street, according to Ray, who said his backpack, which was covered in pepper ball residue, served as a shield.</p><p data-block-key=\"3i15l\">“I definitely am worried about the implications of covering other protests like that,” Ray said. “If the media wasn’t there, the public wouldn’t have an understanding of what happened that night.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3odn0\">The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to the Tracker’s request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"740o2\"><a href=\"https://x.com/ICEgov/status/1931472857554645294\">In a June 7 post on X,</a> ICE said: “Our officers and agents continued to enforce immigration law in LA, despite the violent protesters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cg7b4\">On June 8, a sheriff’s deputy searched the bags of <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sheriffs-deputy-searches-journalists-bag-during-la-immigration-protest/\">Ray</a> and freelance journalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporters-bag-searched-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/\">Joey Scott</a> while they were reporting on another immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles.</p><p data-block-key=\"6su1a\">The Tracker has documented other incidents in which Ray was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-repeatedly-shoved-while-covering-la-reproductive-rights-protests/\">shoved,</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-taco-reporter-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/\">detained,</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-tackled-equipment-damaged-while-covering-dodgers-celebrations/\">tackled</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multiple-journalists-covering-protests-los-angeles-assaulted/\">struck with a baton</a> while covering protests in Los Angeles since 2020.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"v5ira\">Law enforcement officers stand on a freeway in downtown Los Angeles on June 8, 2025, following an immigration protest the previous night. L.A. Taco investigative journalist Lexis-Olivier Ray was struck with pepper balls while reporting on the protest.</p>",
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"(2025-06-18 16:29:00+00:00) LA journalist sues DHS over protest assault",
"(2025-09-10 04:00:00+00:00) LA journalists win court order protecting them from DHS violence at protests"
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{
"title": "Journalist hit in head with tear gas canister at immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-in-head-with-tear-gas-canister-at-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-11T17:54:43.188322Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-09-11T19:49:15.672814Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-09-11T19:49:15.450064Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
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"city": "Compton",
"longitude": -118.22007,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zwxul\">Freelance journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was struck in the temple with a tear gas canister fired by federal officers while he documented anti-deportation protests in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"8bdfa\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with local law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"acp8k\">Demonstrations on June 7 were centered around a Home Depot in Paramount, a predominantly Latino suburb of Los Angeles, after Border Patrol agents were spotted nearby, the Los Angeles Times <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-08/what-actually-happened-at-the-paramount-home-depot\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"b3t9a\">Beckner-Carmitchel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was on assignment for the Los Angeles Public Press covering the raids and protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"304hd\">When he arrived in Paramount, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies were blocking the street while a few activists yelled at them and stun grenades went off in the distance. Beckner-Carmitchel said he showed the deputies his press credentials and was allowed to pass through the line toward the main area of protests on the Compton side of the bridge.</p><p data-block-key=\"8qa3h\">“As I’m walking up, I see more stun grenades, salt and pepper balls being deployed, that kind of thing. As I got closer, I realized that it’s basically a cat-and-mouse game between protesters and HSI,” he said, referring to Homeland Security Investigations, a law enforcement unit of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.</p><p data-block-key=\"f3aal\">Beckner-Carmitchel said the back-and-forth — protesters getting close and shouting at the agents, with agents responding by deploying tear gas and other crowd-control munitions — continued for around six hours, at which point it appeared that things were winding down.</p><p data-block-key=\"foq3p\">“I had taken off my gear and was literally going to basically check out with a few other reporters, because we keep an eye on each other,” he said. Then agents charged into the street and the situation quickly escalated.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media right\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/1000015836.width-828.jpg\" width=\"828\" height=\"1104\" alt=\"COURTESY SEAN BECKNER-CARMITCHEL\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"9r53q\"><i>Freelance journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel photographed himself moments after he was struck in the temple with a tear gas canister and covered in the chemical irritant while documenting anti-deportation protests in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025.</i></p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — COURTESY SEAN BECKNER-CARMITCHEL\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zwxul\">“I was running up, was getting ready to put on my respirator and helmet but before that had even happened I got hit in the temple with a tear gas canister,” Beckner-Carmitchel said. “Later on, I realized that I was literally covered in chemical irritant, and it had exploded so close that it hadn’t even aerosolized yet: It was literally caked into my jacket.”</p><p data-block-key=\"275i1\">He added that at nearly the same moment he was hit, a journalist he was <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/acatwithnews.bsky.social/post/3lr2j2gm77c2l\">working alongside</a> — Ryanne Mena of the Los Angeles Daily News — was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-in-head-with-munition-by-federal-officers-at-la-protest/\">shot in the head</a> with a crowd-control munition.</p><p data-block-key=\"38l1n\">Beckner-Carmitchel was able to locate Mena as the pair became engulfed in tear gas. He led them around the corner to a safe location where they could rinse out their eyes and document their injuries.</p><p data-block-key=\"5jahn\">He told the Tracker that Mena drove him to a nearby hospital to be examined.</p><p data-block-key=\"ehcpp\">“When you’re hit in the head, that’s an immediate medical issue,” Beckner-Carmitchel said. “I double-checked to make sure I passed all the concussion protocols, particularly because getting hit with a tear gas canister, there’s a history there of really bad things happening.</p><p data-block-key=\"3l63m\">“Somehow I passed, I still don’t know how. I’m really lucky,” he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"67i1v\">While covering demonstrations <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2025-06-06&date_upper=2025-06-14&targeted_journalists=Sean+Beckner-Carmitchel\">over previous and subsequent days</a>, Beckner-Carmitchel was shot with other crowd-control munitions, shoved by law enforcement and exposed to chemical irritants.</p><p data-block-key=\"1mmtm\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged journalists to be cautious while covering what she characterized as “violent riots,” and added, “President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"fadhz\">Freelance photojournalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel with a lump on his temple after he was struck with a tear gas canister fired by federal officers while he was documenting anti-deportation protests in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025.</p>",
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"name": "California",
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},
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"(2025-06-18 04:00:00+00:00) LA journalist sues DHS over protest assault"
],
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"ongoing"
],
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"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Sean Beckner-Carmitchel (Los Angeles Public Press)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Univision reporter targeted with pepper balls while covering LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/univision-reporter-targeted-with-pepper-balls-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-10T16:41:01.856000Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-16T13:43:59.205697Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-16T13:43:59.121994Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"x1gux\">Victor Cordero, a news reporter for KMEX-DT, Univision’s Los Angeles affiliate, was targeted with crowd-control munitions fired by federal officers while he was covering a protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"5df4f\">The protest was one of several that <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began June 6</a> in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown.</p><p data-block-key=\"b2b2f\">After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"ehml0\">In a <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/shoton35mm.bsky.social/post/3lr3dvqv4j22p\">video</a> posted to the social platform Bluesky by L.A. Taco journalist Lexis-Olivier Ray, Cordero is seen retreating with his equipment as officers advance. Ray said that federal police began firing pepper balls at members of the press as they tried to move to safety. Cordero, who was clearly wearing a press badge, was among those targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"eq3gs\">The Los Angeles Press Club identified Cordero as one of two KMEX journalists in the clip. The other was video journalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/univision-video-journalist-targeted-with-pepper-balls-during-la-immigration-protest/\">Raúl Gutiérrez, who was also targeted</a>. Cordero did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"20ne3\">Daniel Coronell, president of Univision News, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in a statement that its employees continued to do their job amid the tense environment and are doing well.</p><p data-block-key=\"cdodt\">“We condemn any type of aggression against those who fulfill their duty to inform citizens,” Coronell added. “The authorities must protect journalistic work and guarantee access and safety in places of newsworthy locations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8egha\">It’s unclear which federal agency was deploying the crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"crmig\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged journalists to be cautious while covering what she characterized as “violent riots,” and added that President Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem “are committed to restoring law and order.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"2o7lv\">News reporter Victor Cordero of KMEX-DT, in foreground, runs from federal police as they deploy crowd-control munitions during an immigration protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025.</p>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Victor Cordero (KMEX-DT)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Reporter struck by projectile while covering LA-area protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-by-projectile-while-covering-la-area-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-03T20:59:22.160732Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-16T13:44:43.756119Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-16T13:44:43.671055Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Paramount",
"longitude": -118.15979,
"latitude": 33.88946,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pz5vw\">Jeremy Lindenfeld, a journalist reporting for news nonprofit Capital & Main, was struck in the foot by a canister and exposed to tear gas while covering an immigration raid and subsequent protest in Paramount, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"4em7s\">The protest was part of a wave of demonstrations that <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/article/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6, following federal immigration raids across the Los Angeles area amid a larger immigration crackdown by President Donald Trump. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, Trump deployed the California National Guard and U.S. Marines, despite objections from state and local officials.</p><p data-block-key=\"6guq6\">On June 7, Lindenfeld was near a Home Depot that had recently been raided by federal agents. He said Border Patrol quickly began using chemical agents and projectiles to disperse the crowd of people protesting the raid.</p><p data-block-key=\"84pjj\">“They were escalating fast,” he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “I was caught in some tear gas and hit in the foot with some kind of canister.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here’s another clip of the moment a protester went to kick back a gas canister and was met with a ton of fire from Border Patrol agents. One of those canisters hit me in the foot. <a href=\"https://t.co/UDg9vmc87v\">pic.twitter.com/UDg9vmc87v</a></p>— Jeremy Lindenfeld (@jeremotographs) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jeremotographs/status/1931479380943106446?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 7, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pz5vw\"><a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-with-pepper-balls-tear-gas-while-covering-la-protest/\">The day before,</a> Lindenfeld was also hit with pepper balls and tear gas. He continued his reporting and was struck in the abdomen by a foam baton round <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-by-foam-round-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/\">on June 9</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ld5g\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged journalists to be cautious while covering what she characterized as “violent riots,” and added that President Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem “are committed to restoring law and order.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"bzy8y\">A line of Border Patrol agents confront protesters near a Home Depot in Paramount, California, after an immigration raid on June 7, 2025. Journalist Jeremy Lindenfeld was struck in the foot with a projectile while covering a protest against the raid.</p>",
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"name": "California",
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},
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"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Documentarian hit with pepper balls, tear gas at LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/documentarian-hit-with-pepper-balls-tear-gas-at-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-08-20T18:40:40.393590Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-08-20T18:40:40.393590Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-08-20T18:40:40.160962Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"eavgb\">Documentary producer Rocky Romano was hit in the leg with pepper balls and tear-gassed while covering an immigration raid protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"eesun\">It was one of many protests that <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"323co\">Romano, who was wearing visible media credentials and a helmet labeling him press, said federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security charged the group of demonstrators and press near the Metropolitan Detention Center without warning.</p><p data-block-key=\"heoj\">“They just come out super hot,” Romano, founder of LA-based production company Winters Rock Entertainment, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"8fe5v\">Romano said the crowd had thinned to around 30 people when DHS agents suddenly advanced. A tear gas canister landed at his feet, and he was struck by pepper balls just above the knee and in the upper back, leaving round bruises. In footage he shared with the Tracker, he can be heard coughing violently as tear gas fills the air.</p><p data-block-key=\"1425r\">“It was almost impossible to stay out and keep filming because the gas was insanely bad,” he said. “They’re just shooting at everybody; they’re not making any decision not to shoot the press.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6vci7\">Romano, who continues to film protests, says these experiences have reshaped his sense of risk while working in the field. Weeks later, on Aug. 8, he was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/documentarian-hit-with-police-baton-equipment-damaged-at-la-protest/\">pushed to the ground and struck</a> with a baton by LA police, and his camera equipment damaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"8vich\">“It definitely adds another layer of psychological fear,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"60hud\">In a statement emailed June 11 to the Tracker, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged journalists to be cautious while covering what she characterized as “violent riots,” and added that President Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem “are committed to restoring law and order.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"kl8dt\">Federal agents deploy crowd-control munitions during an immigration raid protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025. Filmmaker Rocky Romano was struck by pepper balls and affected by tear gas while documenting the demonstration.</p>",
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"shot / shot at"
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{
"title": "Journalist shot with crowd-control munitions at immigration protest near LA",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shot-with-crowd-control-munitions-at-immigration-protest-near-la/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-10T17:35:47.250407Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-08-07T14:09:20.392700Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-08-07T14:09:20.281281Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
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"city": "Compton",
"longitude": -118.22007,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1ajt6\">Ben Camacho, co-founder of and journalist for The Southlander, was shot twice with crowd-control munitions by law enforcement while covering protests in the California cities of Compton and Paramount on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"6l681\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"n50m\">Demonstrations the following day were centered around a Home Depot in Paramount, a predominantly Latino suburb of Los Angeles, after Border Patrol agents were spotted nearby, the Los Angeles Times <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-08/what-actually-happened-at-the-paramount-home-depot\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ubk2\">Camacho told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that by the time he and a colleague arrived at around 4:30 p.m., Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies had formed a police line blocking the bridge that led to the Home Depot and connected Paramount to the adjacent city of Compton.</p><p data-block-key=\"9fgrg\">“Folks were doing a street takeover at the intersection nearby, which is nothing out of the ordinary for Compton,” Camacho said. “Closer to the police line, people were definitely organizing, protesting. There were people that were kind of ducked behind a semi-truck and throwing things — whether it’s cement, bricks or rocks — toward the cops.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6ji9u\">He said he documented the back-and-forth between deputies and demonstrators for nearly four hours, and was carrying his professional camera as well as wearing an official press credential, gas mask and ballistic goggles. Throughout that time, deputies would throw flash bangs and tear gas toward the crowd, Camacho said, and sporadically shoot pepper balls.</p><p data-block-key=\"5n6cl\">“When 9 p.m. hit, there was a flash bang that was thrown into a small group of people that was a bit closer to the police line,” he told the Tracker. “I was keeping an eye on those people because my colleague was there, and I wanted to make sure he was OK.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5gpkn\">While Camacho said his colleague was uninjured, independent photojournalist Nick Stern — who had also been documenting near the group — was struck in the leg with a munition which caused a two-inch gash and embedded in his leg. The Tracker has documented that incident <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/munition-strikes-photojournalist-at-la-protest-shrapnel-surgically-removed/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dqbtg\">After helping Stern to a nearby sidewalk, Camacho walked back toward the demonstration and began posting an update to his live reporting on social media.</p><p data-block-key=\"89kre\">“I’m on my phone standing there when I hear the rubber bullet launcher go off, and suddenly I’m just in pain,” Camacho recounted. “Something just hit my leg really hard, right on my kneecap, and I bent over and just started screaming.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3p6ca\">He said he flagged down a passerby to help him move to safety, but less than 30 seconds after he was first struck he was hit again, directly on his elbow.</p><p data-block-key=\"79vv1\">“It felt like my brain was on fire. I was screaming like I’ve never screamed before,” Camacho said. “And now the crowd was running — there was a full on stampede. So I’m now shot twice, I’m in some of the worst pain I’ve ever felt and I have to keep moving because otherwise I’m going to get trampled and possibly killed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ahk1l\">Camacho said he was eventually able to catch his breath and make his way back to the street takeover at the intersection. He then reached his colleague, who helped him back to his car and the pair left the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"8qfhr\">“The next day, I went to urgent care nearby where they took x-rays just to make sure I didn’t have any shrapnel. They patched me up and they said I was going to be OK, and I’ve been resting since then,” he said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Was shot twice by LASD at the Paramount/Compton protest this evening while reporting/photographing (with a press pass around my neck). Unsure what hit me both times but they hit like a sledgehammer and without immediate warning. Elbow is all wrapped with gauze and knee is weak.</p>— bencamach0.bsky.social (@bencamach0) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bencamach0/status/1931591257257636008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 8, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1ajt6\">He told the Tracker that the fact he was directly struck twice in such quick succession is “eerie.”</p><p data-block-key=\"72udv\">“That, to me, just feels really off. Because there were many, many other people around me,” Camacho said. “And to shoot the same person twice within the span of 30 seconds at the most, that feels targeted.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d39se\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker June 10, the Sheriff’s Department said it prioritizes maintaining access for credentialed media, “especially during emergencies and critical incidents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"826v4\">“The LASD does not condone any actions that intentionally target members of the press, and we continuously train our personnel to distinguish and respect the rights of clearly identified journalists in the field,” a public information officer wrote. “We remain open to working with all media organizations to improve communication, transparency, and safety for all parties during public safety operations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3iers\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comment from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"peuz5\">Law enforcement stand during a protest in Paramount, California, on June 7, 2025, after federal immigration authorities conducted operations. Southlander journalist Ben Camacho was shot with crowd-control munitions twice while covering protests that day.</p>",
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"(2025-06-18 13:31:00+00:00) LA journalist sues sheriff’s department after immigration protest assault"
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"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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"authors": [],
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{
"title": "Photojournalist struck in face by crowd-control munition at LA-area protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-in-face-by-crowd-control-munition-at-la-area-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-08-22T18:07:50.183264Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-08-22T18:07:50.183264Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-08-22T17:35:24.966927Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Compton",
"longitude": -118.22007,
"latitude": 33.89585,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ugk9y\">A freelance photographer was struck by impact projectiles in the leg and face, suffering a hematoma in one eye and requiring stitches in his left temple, while covering an anti-deportation protest in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"1mi89\">It was one of many protests that <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"aq3jc\">The photographer, who asked not to be named due to fear of legal trouble when traveling abroad, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he had clearly identified himself as press while photographing demonstrators. The protesters were confronting the LA County Sheriff’s Department after an immigration raid earlier that day at a Home Depot in Paramount, a predominantly Latino suburb of Los Angeles connected by a bridge to Compton.</p><p data-block-key=\"9f8q8\">He documented protesters waving flags as deputies formed a skirmish line to block their advance. Without warning, the deputies began firing impact projectiles into the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"bhjea\">“It’s disturbing, and it’s terrifying,” he told the Tracker. “I’m wearing everything I can to identify myself as a member of the press. And it doesn’t really matter.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f7is6\">He watched as another journalist, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/munition-strikes-photojournalist-at-la-protest-shrapnel-surgically-removed/\">Nick Stern</a>, got hit in the leg, an injury that later required the surgical removal of shrapnel. The freelance photographer himself was hit by munitions, one striking him in the leg and another, which he believes was a heavy metal projectile, just above his left temple.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ukot\">“It felt like someone punched me in the face,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"aquvt\">The blow left him bleeding from his head, and blood splattered onto his press badge. After getting ice at a nearby gas station to apply to the wound, he said he continued photographing the protest, even as bandages applied by a street medic kept bleeding through.</p><p data-block-key=\"auhj7\">The journalist said he stayed at the scene until sheriff’s deputies deployed tear gas, affecting him and others, and then he was taken to the hospital, where doctors gave him two stitches in his left temple. A few days later, a hematoma formed in his eye.</p><p data-block-key=\"puou\">“It was hard to miss,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6l0jg\">He stayed home for several days to recover, unable to sleep on his left side or put pressure on his face. A scar remains from the injury. The photographer said the experience has had a lasting effect on him. He now wears a helmet, ballistic goggles and a gas mask while in the field.</p><p data-block-key=\"1c7q0\">“It feels like they just fire on anybody because they feel like they have the authority to do so,” he said. “And nobody is going to hold them accountable.”</p><p data-block-key=\"62cbi\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker on June 10, the Sheriff’s Department said it prioritizes maintaining access for credentialed media, “especially during emergencies and critical incidents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cm30j\">“The LASD does not condone any actions that intentionally target members of the press, and we continuously train our personnel to distinguish and respect the rights of clearly identified journalists in the field,” a public information officer wrote. “We remain open to working with all media organizations to improve communication, transparency, and safety for all parties during public safety operations.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"f21z9\">A demonstrator waves an American and Mexican flag during a protest in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025. A photographer was struck in the face and leg with impact projectiles while covering the demonstration.</p>",
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"name": "California",
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},
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"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Anonymous photojournalist 8 (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Freelance journalist shot twice in the back with crowd-control munitions",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-shot-twice-in-the-back-with-crowd-control-munitions/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-28T19:37:16.793566Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-28T19:37:16.793566Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-28T19:30:52.927852Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
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"city": "Compton",
"longitude": -118.22007,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5w124\">Freelance journalist Abraham Márquez was shot in the back with multiple crowd-control munitions by law enforcement while documenting anti-deportation protests in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"9aebp\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"ek64i\">Demonstrations the following day were centered around a Home Depot in Paramount, a predominantly Latino suburb of Los Angeles, after Border Patrol agents were spotted nearby, the Los Angeles Times <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-08/what-actually-happened-at-the-paramount-home-depot\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"50onc\">Márquez told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he arrived to cover the protest at around 2 p.m., by which point California Highway Patrol had already blocked off the freeway exit to the Home Depot. The detour he was forced to take took him to the Compton side of the river, where he said hundreds of demonstrators were in a standoff with Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I’m here in Paramount where the community is facing the Los Angeles Sheriff’s <a href=\"https://t.co/FEjrKC5aQd\">pic.twitter.com/FEjrKC5aQd</a></p>— Abraham Márquez (@abemarquez3) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/abemarquez3/status/1931483015743689015?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 7, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5w124\">“It got into a pretty extreme standoff where the sheriffs with armed vehicles were slowly moving west and just shooting indiscriminately into the crowd and telling people to leave,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"b0irp\">Márquez told the Tracker that while he was documenting the skirmish, he found himself trapped against a wall between protesters and law enforcement. He said he waited until he believed it would be safe, held up his press credential and verbally identified himself as a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"3gag5\">“When I found a moment where they were reloading, I just put my phone down and started running so I can get out of that area,” he said. “While I was running with my back facing them is when I got shot in my buttocks. It was a fiery, stinging feeling, and I was able to find coverage next to a car to kind of get myself together, like ‘What the hell just happened?’”</p><p data-block-key=\"9csfn\">He added that his ears were ringing, too, from the volume of stun grenades deputies were deploying.</p><p data-block-key=\"dmkg5\">The Times <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-11/lapd-treatment-journalists\">reported</a> that he was struck with a second round to his back. Márquez told the Tracker he believes he was deliberately targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"44vhv\">“When they were moving slowly, trying to clear out the street, it was the same three or four officers that I had been documenting up close,” he said. “I had my badge out, and I was the only person on that side that had credentials, and I was kind of following them along for 20 feet.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7b550\">Márquez was also struck later on by a crowd-control munition that ricocheted off a KTLA news vehicle, which a few individuals were using for cover from the deputies.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">here is LASD shooting at media with paint ball bullets <a href=\"https://t.co/D84lceOSOM\">pic.twitter.com/D84lceOSOM</a></p>— Abraham Márquez (@abemarquez3) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/abemarquez3/status/1931506425223881194?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 8, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5w124\">He said he wasn’t seriously injured and did not seek medical treatment, adding that he had also been <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-shot-with-crowd-control-munitions-at-la-protest\">struck in the ankle</a> with a pepper ball during protests in downtown LA the previous day.</p><p data-block-key=\"2e5f5\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker on June 10, the Sheriff’s Department said it prioritizes maintaining access for credentialed media, “especially during emergencies and critical incidents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5gsho\">“The LASD does not condone any actions that intentionally target members of the press, and we continuously train our personnel to distinguish and respect the rights of clearly identified journalists in the field,” a public information officer wrote. “We remain open to working with all media organizations to improve communication, transparency, and safety for all parties during public safety operations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1mjd5\">The Los Angeles Press Club, the outlet Status Coup and news cooperative The Southlander <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.974976/gov.uscourts.cacd.974976.1.0_1.pdf\">filed a federal lawsuit</a> June 18 seeking an injunction to prevent law enforcement from using excessive force against journalists or otherwise hampering their ability to cover protests. According to the suit, Márquez was freelancing for The Southlander during the June 7 protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"enap1\">The suit alleges that deputies’ actions violated the First and Fourteenth amendments, the state constitution and a <a href=\"https://california.public.law/codes/penal_code_section_409.7\">2021 addition to the state penal code</a> that established protections for press at protests — revealing “a brazen refusal to abide by the Constitution and state law” and “the need for judicial intervention to prevent future abuses.”</p><p data-block-key=\"63j3e\">In its <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/thesouthlander.com/post/3lrvwlpsnlt2i\">announcement</a> of the suit on social media, The Southlander wrote that the Sheriff’s Department “must be held accountable,” and that the work of the press is crucial to spotlighting the actions of federal immigration enforcement.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"8fevi\">Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies deploy crowd-control munitions to push back anti-deportation protesters in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025. Freelance journalist Abraham Márquez was shot with multiple munitions while covering the demonstration.</p>",
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"shot / shot at"
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{
"title": "Officer pushes reporter in press vest at LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/officer-pushes-reporter-in-press-vest-at-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-12T20:32:40.594582Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-13T18:09:10.535257Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-13T18:09:10.450096Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4t5wi\">Mekahlo Medina, a reporter for KNBC, was pushed by a federal agent while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025, according to videos posted by the <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKoMRBzSay1/\">outlet</a> and the <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKp4fugB0Am/?igsh=aGxzbmFzbXo2Zm5p\">journalist</a> on social media.</p><p data-block-key=\"fi7k7\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/article/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"2sir0\">In the <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKp4fugB0Am/?igsh=aGxzbmFzbXo2Zm5p\">video</a> posted by Medina, the reporter said that at 8:30 p.m. on June 7, a mix of Los Angeles Police Department officers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents pushed through crowds of protesters outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants were being held. Medina — who was wearing a press vest — and his crew were <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-by-pepper-pellets-and-tear-gas-while-covering-la-protest/\">shot by pepper pellets and tear gas</a>, and later took cover behind a news truck, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"et2ku\">The video shows police officers and federal agents in tactical gear moving forward, shouting “Move!” and “Get out!”</p><p data-block-key=\"h0pc\">Medina can be heard shouting “We’re all press. Press, press!” as one CBP agent aggressively pushes him.</p><p data-block-key=\"djo1l\">In the video, Medina told his audience that local journalism organizations have met with the LAPD in the past on how to cover protests and allow the media to exercise its First Amendment right for freedom of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"fo17r\">“But as we rewatched the video of officers pushing journalists through, you can see this wasn’t LAPD, those were federal agents,” Medina said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8r36i\">In an emailed statement to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, wrote: “We remind members of the media and journalists to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots. We have seen rioters throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails, setting fires, and other violent acts. President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles."</p><p data-block-key=\"jh0\">Medina did not immediately return a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Medina_assault.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"wduo9\">Mekahlo Medina, while wearing a press vest and identifying himself as a member of the media, was shoved by a federal agent during a protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025.</p>",
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"name": "California",
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},
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"tags": [
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"Mekahlo Medina (KNBC)"
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]
