Reporter shot with impact projectile while covering Oregon immigration protest

Eugene Weekly reporter Eve Weston was hit in the stomach by a crowd-control munition fired by a federal officer while covering a protest in front of the Federal Building in Eugene, Oregon, on Jan. 30, 2026.

Demonstrators had gathered at the site that day to protest federal immigration enforcement activities, the alternative paper reported. At one point in the late afternoon, a window of the building was broken, and federal officers inside opened fire with crowd-control munitions, according to the report.

The protest was declared a riot by the Eugene Police Department, and Weston told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that afterward, federal officers came out and deployed crowd-control munitions and chemical irritants into the crowd, which she captured on video for the outlet.

Weston said that one officer came through a cloud of gas as she was backing up with others, lifting his tear gas canister launcher and shooting it almost directly at her.

“I was struck in the stomach. I am OK. It didn’t really injure me, but it definitely surprised me,” she said.

Weston said the officer fired at her even though she was clearly identified as press.

“I was wearing a very reflective red press vest. I was wearing a press pass. I even have this city-issued arm band that they give you, that’s this yellow reflector that you can put your press pass into.”

Three days earlier, Weston and at least one other journalist, Agostinho Da Silva, had been hit by crowd-control munitions fired by federal officers while covering a protest in the same location.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment.