Reporter struck with pepper ball by federal officers at LA protest

Ryanne Mena, a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News, was shot by federal officers with a pepper ball while documenting anti-deportation protests in 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.

Mena told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she and independent journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel had covered the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in the fashion district downtown and the resulting protests.

She said that by 6 p.m., protesters had made their way to the Metropolitan Detention Center, where detainees were being held. Mena said that the protest was growing but the majority of demonstrators were doing so peacefully, until an individual threw a desk chair toward an entrance to the MDC.

“Moments later, federal agents came out and began shooting pepper ball bullets at the crowd,” she told the Tracker. “Once I heard that going off, I backed up because I didn’t want to get hit.”

As she tried to find somewhere safe to continue reporting, Mena said she was shot on her left upper thigh with one of the crowd-control munitions.

“I screamed out profanity because it really hurt,” Mena said. “After being hit with that pepper ball bullet, I called my editor and notified her about what happened and continued on.”

She said that she was wearing two press credentials — one issued by her news outlet and one by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department — and was carrying a notebook and pen.

“It was very clear what I was doing there,” Mena added.

She told the Tracker that the following day, following an ICE raid at a Home Depot in nearby Paramount, she was shot again by federal agents while covering protests, struck in the head with a rubber bullet.

In a statement emailed to the Tracker, Department of Homeland Security 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.”