Incident details
- Date of incident
- June 13, 2025
- Targets
- Mason Lake (Independent)
- Assailant
- Law enforcement
- Was the journalist targeted?
- Yes
Assault
A federal officer looks down at protesters as munitions and pepper ball rounds are fired into the crowd outside an immigration detention center in Portland, Oregon, on June 13, 2025. Videographer Mason Lake was struck while covering the protest that day.
Independent journalist Mason Lake said he was shot by federal agents with a projectile that struck his arm while he covered a protest outside an immigration detention center in Portland, Oregon, on June 13, 2025.
Lake, a Portland-based videographer and founder of the independent outlet Channel Heed, was filming a protest over the arrest of Moisés Sotelo, a Newberg business owner detained by federal immigration agents the day before. His arrest followed the detainment of at least four asylum-seekers outside a Portland courthouse after immigration hearings, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
“Locals feel like someone in their community was kidnapped by the U.S. government,” Lake said. “We’re just trying to report it so that people can see what’s going on.”
At around 10 p.m., Lake was filming officers raining down crowd-control munitions on people when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot at him multiple times — despite clear press markings on his coat, helmet and belt, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
“They were aiming specifically down the barrel of my lens,” he said, adding that the round went underneath his monopod instead. “I’m fully there as press. They see me. They just want to get rid of me.”
Lake said his right arm was struck by a pepper round and believes ICE’s Special Response Team was responsible, based on uniform patches in his footage. The Tracker has documented 14 incidents since 2020 in which Lake has been assaulted while covering Portland protests.
“It’s disheartening, but I’m ready for it,” Lake said. “Don’t assume that the shield of ‘press’ will protect you right now.”
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 that President Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem “are committed to restoring law and order.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogues press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
