Journalist shot with pepper balls by federal officers at LA protest

Freelance journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was shot with pepper balls and pepper-sprayed by federal officers while documenting anti-deportation protests in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 2025.

A series of 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. 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.

Beckner-Carmitchel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was on assignment for Los Angeles Public Press covering Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and the protests that followed in the neighborhoods of Westlake and the Fashion District.

After protesters and the family members of the detained gathered at the Metropolitan Detention Center downtown, demonstrators’ standoff with federal officers escalated and agents with the Department of Homeland Security began deploying crowd-control munitions.

“Lots of stun grenades, pepper balls, chemical munitions. Rocks, chairs, water bottles in return,” Beckner-Carmitchel wrote on the social platform Bluesky.

He told the Tracker that he and other members of the press were caught in the crossfire, if not deliberately targeted.

“Myself and pretty much every journalist were hit with OC spray, pepper balls and, again, the tear gas,” Beckner-Carmitchel said, referring to a type of pepper spray, along with other chemical irritants. He specified that he was hit with multiple pepper balls and pepper-sprayed in the face.

While covering demonstrations over subsequent days, Beckner-Carmitchel was shot with other crowd-control munitions, shoved by law enforcement and exposed to chemical irritants.

In a statement emailed to the Tracker, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged journalists to be cautious while covering what she characterized as “violent riots,” and added, “President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles.”