Photojournalist struck with projectiles, breaking finger at LA protest

Photojournalist Mario Guerrero suffered a broken finger after he was hit with crowd-control munitions fired by federal officers while covering a protest against immigration raids on Jan. 31, 2026, in Los Angeles, California.

The demonstration was held a day after nationwide protests and also followed similar protests in Minnesota, where federal officers had shot and killed two U.S. citizens. In LA, sweeping immigration enforcement has continued since June.

Guerrero told KTLA that after LA police issued a dispersal order, he and other media members stood to the side as protesters confronted law enforcement. Without warning, a federal officer began firing projectiles at him.

“They shot me in the hand,” he told the station. “Now I need to have surgery.”

Guerrero, a photographer with OC Hawk, a stringer company that provides television stations with critical news footage, identified the projectiles as rubber bullets. When he was hit, he had already identified himself as a member of the press and was wearing a media vest, KTLA reported. The impact left his finger broken, bruised and bleeding.

Guerrero, who did not respond to a request for comment, told the TV station that the incident was preventable.

“I just want accountability. I want them to know, like, you just can’t go out there and start spraying people. They are identifying themselves as a member of the press,” he said. “There should be more training on how to deal with crowd control, especially when you have members of the media that are trying to do their job, not trying to interfere, not trying to be part of it.”

In a GoFundMe post, Guerrero wrote that he can’t operate his camera now and needs to take time off as he recovers. “The uncertainty of when I will be able to return to work has made this time especially challenging, both financially and emotionally.”

The actions of DHS officers appeared to violate a state law prohibiting officers from using violent protest policing tactics with members of the press, which courts reinforced with preliminary injunctions issued to both agencies last year.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment. In a Jan. 31 post on his social media platform, President Donald Trump wrote that federal agents would participate in policing protests only if requested, but that he had instructed Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol “to be very forceful in this protection of Federal Government Property.”