Freelance journalist shot twice in the back with crowd-control munitions

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.

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.

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 reported.

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.

“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.

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.

“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?’”

He added that his ears were ringing, too, from the volume of stun grenades deputies were deploying.

The Times reported that he was struck with a second round to his back. Márquez told the Tracker he believes he was deliberately targeted.

“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.”

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.

He said he wasn’t seriously injured and did not seek medical treatment, adding that he had also been struck in the ankle with a pepper ball during protests in downtown LA the previous day.

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.”

The Los Angeles Press Club, the outlet Status Coup and news cooperative The Southlander filed a federal lawsuit 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.

The suit alleges that deputies’ actions violated the First and Fourteenth amendments, the state constitution and a 2021 addition to the state penal code 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.”

In its announcement 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.