Journalist shoved, shot at and camera equipment damaged at LA protest

Independent journalist Wali Khan was shoved to the ground and shot at with crowd-control munitions by law enforcement while covering anti-deportation protests in downtown 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.

Khan told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he is a student journalist in Michigan, but came to California to cover the demonstrations. It was immediately clear to him that Los Angeles Police Department officers were using excessive force against protesters and the press covering them.

“I’ve had too many reporter friends who texted the group chat and said, ‘Hey, one of us was shot in the face,’” he said. “It’s intentional, it has to be.”

Khan said he was documenting the June 9 protests outside City Hall when an LAPD officer shoved him, damaging the flash for his camera. Luckily, Khan said, he had a backup.

“I literally reached into my bag and grabbed a spare, and they looked so pissed,” he recounted of police. “I remember taking a photo of the cops kind of advancing, and then I get shoved so hard the flash flies out of my hand and I land on my spine.”

He told the Tracker that he already has a slipped disk and that the fall was extremely painful. And his backup flash, he added, was severely damaged and cost him $300 to replace.

At another point during the demonstration, Khan said, an officer shot at him with a crowd-control munition from close range, but the round struck a protester instead.

“I was really lucky, but that was somebody else’s misfortune,” he added. The protester, Martin Santoyo, was hit in the groin and lost a testicle.

Khan said that an injury while covering the protests could be debilitating not only physically, but also financially.

“It’s a lot to lose, because a lot of us don’t have good insurance coverage or any coverage,” he said. “We’re doing this and it feels like that with just a pull of a trigger, they’re able to bankrupt us, just hurt us financially, whether it be like breaking your equipment or just really injuring you so you’re out of work for a while.”

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.