Incident details
- Date of incident
- June 9, 2025
- Location
- Los Angeles, California
- Targets
- Caylo Seals (Sipa USA)
- Assailant
- Law enforcement
- Was the journalist targeted?
- No
Assault
Law enforcement at an immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on June 9, 2025. Freelance photojournalist Caylo Seals was struck by ricocheting crowd-control munitions while covering the protest that day.
Freelance photojournalist Caylo Seals was hit by at least two ricocheting crowd-control munitions fired by police while covering an immigration enforcement protest in Los Angeles, California, on June 9, 2025.
It was one of many protests that 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 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. Trump’s deployment of federal troops to LA was ruled illegal by a federal judge Sept. 2.
Seals told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was on assignment for Sipa USA when he was struck in the legs by what he identified as ricocheting rubber bullets fired by the Los Angeles Police Department, as they pushed the crowd further away from downtown.
“They just bounced off other people or bounced off the ground,” he said.
Seals, who was not injured, said he was wearing press identifiers when he was struck and did not believe he was targeted by the police.
When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to the department’s social media accounts. In a June 10 statement posted to X, the department acknowledged that LAPD officers used numerous “less-lethal rounds” when responding to the protests, but did not address the use of munitions against identifiable press.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogs press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
