Student journalist struck by crowd-control munitions amid Compton protest

Jake Crandall, a student photojournalist for Santa Monica College’s The Corsair, was hit with a pepper ball and a stun grenade while documenting an anti-deportation protest in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025.

Crandall was at one of a series of protests that began June 6 in response to federal raids of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered in and around LA, 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, despite objections from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.

Crandall was photographing a confrontation between demonstrators and deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, who had formed a skirmish line at a nearby intersection. Protesters had dragged dumpsters and other debris into the street to build a makeshift blockade. While crouched behind a car for cover, Crandall was struck in the leg by a pepper ball fired by deputies, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. He said no protesters were nearby at the moment.

“I don’t know if it was necessarily targeted at me, but it definitely had to have been a careless error shooting at me,” Crandall said.

Later on, he moved toward a wall where journalists had gathered, a spot law enforcement had previously directed the press to stand. As he approached, a stinger grenade, which releases rubber pellets and chemical irritants, exploded at his feet. He identified the device, which coated his lower body with powder, by its residue and a photo he took of one used during the protest.

Crandall was standing about 10 feet from other clearly identified journalists at the time and wearing visibly marked press gear himself, he recounted. He said a protester was standing about 20 feet away from him at the time.

In the surrounding days of news coverage, Crandall said he saw fellow journalists arrested, struck with crowd-control munitions and taken to the hospital. He was also pepper-sprayed, shot with a pepper ball and detained by police.

“It definitely makes me feel a lot less safe than I have before,” he said.

In a statement emailed to the Tracker on June 10, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it does not condone any actions that intentionally target the press and prioritizes maintaining access for credentialed media, “especially during emergencies and critical incidents.”