Student reporter hit with flash-bang grenade at California protest

Joe Trujillo, a student journalist with The Hornet newspaper at California’s Fullerton College, was struck by a crowd-control munition while covering an immigration enforcement protest in the nearby Los Angeles suburb of Paramount on June 7, 2025.

The protest was one of many that began June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown.

In a first-person account of the incident, Trujillo described running with his camera raised when a flash-bang grenade exploded, striking his leg and leaving it bruised, swollen and bleeding.

“I was there as a reporter, not a participant. My press pass was postcard-sized and clearly visible,” he wrote. “I carried a camera, not a sign.”

According to Trujillo, the LA County Sheriff’s Department fired the explosive, though he did not say if he was deliberately targeted. He did not return a request for comment.

Trujillo recounted in his article that deputies crossed into Paramount from neighboring Compton, exited pickup trucks, cleared debris and began forcing demonstrators and journalists backward as flash-bang grenades detonated around them. Deputies formed a skirmish line and fired additional munitions, rubber bullets, tear gas and flash bangs at the crowd.

“Teargas made me cough for a week. Flash-bang grenades left me limping and with a piercing ring in my ears,” he wrote. “Those experiences forced me to confront how quickly press access disappears when law enforcement decides it is optional.”

Trujillo wrote that journalists were treated like obstacles instead of observers, and that the summer protests forced him to grapple with whether the press freedoms discussed in classrooms hold up in the real world. Regardless, he said he remains committed to reporting in the field.

“I’ll keep wearing my press pass and recording what happens in public, because the people have the right to know,” he wrote.

In a statement emailed to the Tracker on June 10, the Sheriff’s Department said it prioritizes maintaining access for credentialed media, “especially during emergencies and critical incidents.”

“The LASD does not condone any actions that intentionally target members of the press, and we continuously train our personnel to distinguish and respect the rights of clearly identified journalists in the field,” a public information officer wrote. “We remain open to working with all media organizations to improve communication, transparency, and safety for all parties during public safety operations.”