Agency photojournalist shot with crowd-control munitions at LA protest

Chelsea Lauren, a staff photojournalist for Shutterstock, was shot with multiple crowd-control munitions by law enforcement while documenting anti-deportation protests in Los Angeles, California, on June 9, 2025.

The protests began 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.

Lauren told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was struck with a munition within 15 minutes of arriving to cover the immigration protests on June 9. The demonstrations were centered around the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown LA’s Little Tokyo neighborhood.

“I’ve always done a good job of avoiding less-lethals: I’ve actually never been hit before in all of 2020, all the protests I did, because I do a very good job of identifying myself to the police,” she said.

That day, Lauren said, she did the same: identifying herself to the line of Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and Los Angeles police officers and receiving permission to cross. She also said she was wearing press credentials issued by both departments, as well as a vest labeled with ‘Press’ in large letters.

While the majority of protesters were a block and a half away, one or two individuals were using what Lauren described as a white tank for cover to launch fireworks at police. One of the individuals told the other that they needed to get closer to the police line.

“So that person ran with their little firework stick thing toward the police on the sidewalk and they ducked down inside of an area that was cordoned off for a restaurant, for dining on the sidewalk,” she said. “I walked up, but I walked up in the street, all the way on the opposite side, by the curb.”

Lauren said she wasn’t surprised when law enforcement began firing at the protester, who ducked down and retreated. But she was shocked when officers targeted her next with a 40 mm munition.

“I was sitting there shooting and I was looking at my camera and then all of a sudden I get hit in the thigh,” Lauren told the Tracker. “I was there with my cameras in the middle of the street. I shoot Canon, and the Canon lenses are pretty identifiable, the 70-200 mm specifically: It’s like a beige-white color. There’s no way they could have mistaken me for anything but press.

“So I kind of looked over and put my arms in the air like, ‘What the hell! What the hell is wrong with you guys?’ They’re not supposed to shoot people unless they’re being a threat, and I so obviously was not. It was like they were just having target practice for fun or something.”

She told the Tracker that they were shot with a second crowd-control munition later that evening, which bounced off the strap of their large camera backpack.

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.”

“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.”

When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the Tracker to its social media accounts. But in a June 10 news release posted on social platform X about the previous evening’s protest response, the department did not address the use of munitions against identifiable press.

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.