Officers opened fire Thursday night at a vehicle backing into a line of Coast Guard and law enforcement personnel outside the U.S. Coast Guard base in Alameda, site of a day-long protest against what was originally planned as an immigration enforcement surge in the San Francisco Bay Area.
A CBS News Bay Area photographer at the scene captured video showing a U-Haul truck reversing toward the base entrance and law enforcement firing their weapons at the vehicle.
Photographer Rick Villaroman said the U-Haul had been parked outside the base for the better part of the day until it inexplicably began to reverse quickly toward officers blocking off the gate.Â
“He just hit the gas and sped towards them,” Villaroman said. “And that’s when they opened fire. About 20 to 30 rounds.”
In a statement on social media overnight Friday Pacific time, the Coast Guard said, “At approximately 10:00 p.m. (PDT) on Thursday, Coast Guard security personnel standing watch on Coast Guard Island observed a vehicle driving erratically and attempting to back into Coast Guard Base Alameda. Coast Guard personnel issued multiple verbal commands to stop the vehicle, the driver failed to comply and proceeded to put the vehicle in reverse.”
“When the vehicle’s actions posed a direct threat to the safety of Coast Guard and security personnel, law enforcement officers discharged several rounds of live fire,” the statement said. “No Coast Guard personnel were injured during the incident.”
U.S. Coast Guard security personnel had fired the shots.
The Department of Homeland Security said Friday morning that the truck driver was wounded in the stomach and was being held for a mental health evaluation.
Homeland Security officials said two civilians were injured and expected to survive, while a bystander was struck by a fragment, treated at a local hospital and released.
The FBI is the lead agency for the investigation, officials said.
Driver takes off after shooting, then returns
The driver fled after the shooting. There was no immediate update from police in Oakland, where the entrance to the bridge crossing to Coast Guard Base Alameda is located, or from the California Highway Patrol, which had officers in riot gear facing protesters for hours Thursday.
KPIX
The driver stopped backing up when the gunfire erupted and then drove away from the police line, stopping briefly before driving away and then returning to the scene shortly after.
“The driver of the U-Haul came back, parked it down this street here, and walked out and left,” Villaroman said.
Witnesses said the truck also struck two bystanders. There was no immediate confirmation of any injuries.
Villaroman said he inspected the abandoned vehicle and saw multiple bullet holes but no blood in the cabin.
The protesters who were still at the base largely cleared out after the shooting, he said.
Coast Guard base was to be Border Patrol staging area
The base was to have been the staging area for a planned immigration enforcement surge by Border Patrol agents in the San Francisco Bay Area. President Trump later said the planned surge in San Francisco had been called off, but it wasn’t clear whether other Bay Area cities could see a ramp-up of activity by federal agents.
Protesters began gathering outside the base entrance early Thursday morning ahead of the anticipated immigration enforcement crackdown in San Francisco, with some demonstrators attempting to block vehicles going through the gates. The gathering turned into a day-long standoff between CHP officers and protesters who were later joined by 100 to 200 more demonstrators who marched from a rally in Oakland’s Fruitvale District to the base, also known as Coast Guard Island, an artificial island in the Oakland Estuary between Oakland and Alameda.
U.S. officials told CBS News on Wednesday that the Trump administration had planned to expand its nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration to the Bay Area and that Border Patrol agents would stage at the base, located roughly 15 miles from San Francisco.
“DHS is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens – including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists – in cities such as Portland, Chicago, Memphis and San Francisco,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said. “As it does every day, DHS law enforcement will enforce the laws of our nation.”
Mr. Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that the enforcement action in San Francisco was canceled following a conversation with Mayor Daniel Lurie and calls from tech leaders, citing the city’s progress in addressing crime.Â
Despite the announcement, protesters remained outside the entrance to the base Thursday afternoon. Additional protests and rallies were held in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose.
Smoke grenades, flash bang devices deployed at protest
Protesters began to arrive at Coast Guard Island around 6 a.m., blocking the entrance to the island. Shortly after 7 a.m., a CBS News Bay Area crew spotted a Coast Guard vehicle drive past the crowd and then fire flash bangs and smoke grenades to disperse it.
CBS
At least two people were seen being detained at the site.
One demonstrator appeared to have been hit by a piece of shrapnel or a projectile — a minister who was part of a group of interfaith leaders taking part.
The minister, identified as Jorge Bautista, spoke to reporters after the incident.
“I obviously was shot with whatever that Border Patrol had,” said Bautista, who is a pastor at an Oakland church. “And I came to say we came in peace, and he didn’t care. There’s nothing else to say — he wanted to cause harm to me.”
“It’s clear that we’re here to be on the side of love,” Bautista added. “Because it is our responsibility to express love and be on the side of peace and to make sure that no families are being harassed and threatened with their lives.”
“They stopped at the crowd, and then got out and said they were going to drive through us if we didn’t move, they weren’t going to stop once they started, and they started pushing through,” said one Alameda resident who didn’t to give her name. “They ran over one gentleman’s foot, another person got pushed off.”Â
“They have the right to come out here and walk around, (and) so do I,” said one man wearing a MAGA hat who also didn’t share his name.
“We are not here to be violent, but if we are being aggressed, what do you do?” remarked Oakland resident Kendra Ferguson.
