Photojournalist hit in the neck with projectile at Oregon ICE protest

Freelance photographer John Rudoff was shot in the neck with a crowd-control munition while covering a protest against immigration raids in Portland, Oregon, in October 2025.

Rudoff was covering one of a series of demonstrations that have taken place since June, when President Donald Trump ramped up immigration enforcement and later raised the possibility of deploying the National Guard to the city.

Rudoff asked the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to omit the date of the incident to protect his sources. He told the Tracker that he was outside Portland’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility when federal officers began peppering people with projectiles.

“I shoot everything I can get my hands on,” he said. “My job is to get a complete record of what happened.”

Rudoff said federal agents frequently used such crowd-control munitions — including pepper spray and tear gas — when entering or exiting the facility’s gated driveway, often emerging fully armored and prepared to fire if the perimeter is encroached upon.

Rudoff said he was wearing a military gas mask, a helmet and a badge marking himself as press, and was carrying two large cameras strapped around his neck.

After the chaos had died down and the tear gas was clear, federal agents formed a line in front of protesters, some of whom were confronting the officers. Rudoff snapped a photo of one of the agents and then turned his head to get another picture of an officer pepper-spraying a protester.

“All of a sudden, I felt this tremendous whack on the side of my neck,” he said. “It was like a very hard punch from something about the size of a bald fist.”

The impact, which happened while his neck was facing federal officers, caused him to drop the camera that was hanging around his neck.

“I was hurt, I was in pain, I was pissed off,” he said. “I was non-functional that night.”

Disoriented, Rudoff staggered backward from the line of federal officers. He kept taking pictures, but eventually moved away from the action to re-collect himself on a park bench.

“I was reporting up until I got hit, and after I got hit, I wasn’t reporting,” he said.

Rudoff said the impact left a lump on his neck and a soreness that lasted for a few days.

“I wasn’t doing anything hostile, and in fact, I was even turned away from the line of people who shot at me,” he said. “I have to conclude — I have to infer — that he shot at me because I was a journalist.”

Also that month, he was struck in the leg and arm with impact projectiles.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

In February 2026, a judge temporarily restricted federal officers from using tear gas at protests outside the Portland facility. After the ruling, ABC News reported the agency said its officers “followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public, and federal property.” It did not address the use of crowd-control munitions against members of the press.