Photojournalist struck with projectiles, breaking finger at LA protest

Photojournalist Mario Guerrero suffered a broken finger after he was hit with crowd-control munitions fired by federal officers while covering a protest against immigration raids on Jan. 31, 2026, in Los Angeles, California.

The demonstration was held a day after nationwide protests and also followed similar protests in Minnesota, where federal officers had shot and killed two U.S. citizens. In LA, sweeping immigration enforcement has continued since June.

Guerrero, a photographer with OC Hawk, a stringer company that provides television stations with news footage, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was filming outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants were being held, as protesters and law enforcement faced off.

The journalist, who was wearing a press vest and media badge, said federal officers knew he was press and directed him to stand to the side.

Then, people started throwing fireworks, glass bottles and other objects at law enforcement. Federal officers responded with disorientation devices like flash-bang grenades, tear gas and pepper balls.

Without warning, a federal officer began firing projectiles at Guerrero. One hit him in the ring finger, another struck the side of his arm, and a third pummeled his vest.

“It felt like a punch,” he said. “Then I felt the blood dripping.”

The impact broke his finger, leaving it bruised and bleeding. “The pain was so severe that even my finger was getting so puffy, and it was swelling so fast, and it wouldn’t stop bleeding,” he told the Tracker. “I felt it wasn’t safe for me to stay there.”

He later underwent surgery to have a pin inserted to stabilize it and will be unable to work for four weeks.

Guerrero captured on video the moment he was directly targeted by the federal agent. “You see the DHS agent pointing the gun towards me, and he shoots,” he said. “There were multiple people around me, and they didn’t get hit. I was the only one.”

He said he later realized the projectiles were paintball rounds, which he said law enforcement is using to target and mark people for subsequent identification.

“There should be more training on how to deal with crowd control; they think everybody is a protester, even independent journalists,” he told the Tracker. “They think we’re part of the protest, when we’re here to just document what’s going on and report it, and they’re getting more aggressive toward the media.”

The actions of DHS officers appeared to violate a state law prohibiting officers from using violent protest policing tactics with members of the press, which courts reinforced with preliminary injunctions issued to both agencies last year.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment. In a Jan. 31 post on his social media platform, President Donald Trump wrote that federal agents would participate in policing protests only if requested, but that he had instructed Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol “to be very forceful in this protection of Federal Government Property.”

Update: This article was revised to include comments and a new image from Mario Guerrero.