British television reporter shot with crowd-control munition at LA protest

Noel Phillips, a North America correspondent for British broadcaster ITV, was shot with a crowd-control munition live on air, while covering an immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on June 9, 2025.

The protests began 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.

Phillips told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he arrived on the ground with a crew member at around 9 p.m., getting a feel for what was happening before his first live report about an hour later. He said that shortly before going on air, Los Angeles Police Department officers began firing crowd-control munitions.

“We just remember there being rubber bullets flying everywhere and, at that point, we then took cover behind a car, a vehicle that was parked on the side of the street,” Phillips said.

In a report for Good Morning Britain the morning after, Phillips said that lying on the ground was the safest option, “given the fact that the situation around us was so volatile.”

“As I was laying on the floor, I felt as though an enormous ton of bricks had fallen on my arm,” Phillips said. “I realized, I think, within 20 to 30 seconds that a rubber bullet had grazed the top layer of my skin and had caused a bit of injury.

“It gives you a sense of just how unpredictable things are here. There has been a constant flow of fireworks and rubber bullets."

The Los Angeles Police Department has said that it no longer uses rubber bullets, instead relying on other forms of “less-lethal” munitions, including foam rounds.

In footage posted to Instagram, Phillips can be heard shouting in pain seconds after he was struck by a crowd-control munition, and a semicircular abrasion is later seen on his forearm.

“We quickly got up from the ground and then ran into the street with our hands in the air, shouting, ‘Press! Press! Press!’ Obviously, I was injured at the time, and they allowed us to cross the street,” Phillips told the Tracker. “We continued our reporting on the ground despite being injured, but it was very hostile and it was very unprovoked.

“It didn’t make any sense at all why they would target us. I mean, I had my press credentials and protective clothing on, which clearly — unless their vision was impaired — they could see that we were reporting.”

Phillips added that he and the photographer with him were wearing press credentials, protective vests and helmets marked with “Press,” and had a large camera with lights on it.

In his interview with ITV, Phillips said he sought medical attention and determined that his arm, while swollen, had not been broken. He told the Tracker that he is planning to file a civil lawsuit against the LAPD.

“It’s looking back and thinking about what happened to me and not forgetting the thought of that bullet, perhaps, hitting me in my neck or in my eye and causing significant, life-changing injuries,” he said. “I should not have been struck by rubber bullets, because we were not a risk to the police or to anybody that night. It was completely and totally unjustified, and I expect appropriate acknowledgment and accountability for what happened.”

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.

Phillips told the Tracker that being targeted in the course of their journalistic work felt like an “attack on us trying to do our job.”

“Press freedom, as we know, is the cornerstone of democracy,” he added. “Without the ability to question, investigate and report freely without fear or favor, truth is silenced and power goes unchecked.”

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include additional comments and details from Noel Phillips.