Incident details
- Date of incident
- June 6, 2025
- Location
- Los Angeles, California
- Targets
- Anthony Cabassa (Independent)
- Assailant
- Law enforcement
- Was the journalist targeted?
- No
Assault
Protesters gather at the Federal Building in LA on June 6, 2025, after immigration raids at workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gather. Federal officers shot journalist Anthony Cabassa in the face with pepper balls amid the demonstrations.
Independent journalist Anthony Cabassa was shot twice in the face with pepper balls by federal law enforcement agents while documenting anti-deportation protests in Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 2025.
The protests began that day 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. Demonstrators clashed with both local law enforcement officers and federal agents.
Cabassa posted at around 6:30 p.m. on the social platform X that he had been struck near his left eye with a crowd-control munition containing a chemical irritant. “I’m also bleeding,” he added. “Things got violent.”
The following morning, Cabassa posted the footage he captured before he was shot by Department of Homeland Security officers. He wrote that he was caught in the crossfire after something was thrown at the agents, noting that two pepper balls struck him in the face.
Cabassa, who did not respond to requests for comment, emphasized in a later post that he was only present to cover the protests.
“I am a journalist, I have been documenting protests in LA since 2017. I had a tripod with one camera in my left hand, and another camera recording on my right,” he wrote. “All I was doing was filming. Journalism is not a crime.”
In an emailed statement to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker on June 11, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, 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.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogues press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
