Federal officer pulls gun in clash with protesters in downtown LA

Brittny Mejia and Libor Jany, Los Angeles Times on Aug 11, 2026

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LOS ANGELES — Local and federal authorities said they are investigating after two federal officers were assaulted and one of them was captured on video brandishing a gun at protesters in downtown Los Angeles over the weekend.

The incident unfolded late Saturday night at the corner of Alameda and Commercial, near the Metropolitan Detention Center. The federal jail facility houses defendants awaiting criminal trials; adjacent is an immigration detention facility known as B-18. Demonstrators have gathered in the area almost nightly since immigration raids began last June.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, protesters began to follow two federal detention officers to their cars in a local parking lot and then “suddenly and deliberately attacked the federal employees striking them multiple times.”

Video that same night captured a federal officer, his face swollen and bloodied, brandishing a gun as people began to scream.

“Put that s— down,” a person screamed at the officer, as he yanked on a woman’s shirt, gun in hand and pointed directly at her. In a video caption, an Instagram user said the woman had been “blinded by mace.”

As the officer walked away and got into an elevator, he again pointed his gun at protesters who had followed him. Another person in the elevator also appeared to have pulled his gun.

Videos from the scene showed protesters holding Mexican and American flags, along with a banner that read “F— I.C.E.” LAPD officers arrived soon after the clash, wielding batons and trying to push the crowd back.

“LAPD doesn’t care that they pulled a ... weapon on us,” a woman was captured screaming on the video.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the incident involved a Bureau of Prisons officer. The spokesperson said that Federal Protective Service officers responded to assist. Video footage also showed Homeland Security officers on the scene.

Donald Murphy, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons, said that as the matter is under investigation the agency has “no information to provide at this time.”

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell addressed the incident during his weekly remarks to the Police Commission on Tuesday. He said that on the night of the assault, a group of about 20 people followed two federal officers into a nearby parking garage “where the officers were assaulted.” He said LAPD officers responded to the ensuing call for help but the suspects had fled the scene by the time they arrived.

McDonnell made no mention of the officer’s decision to brandish his gun. He added that one officer was taken to a nearby hospital.

McDonnell said that one person was arrested at the scene, but not in connection with the alleged assault. The person was “armed” with a large flagpole and an unknown cylindrical object, the chief said, and was taken into custody after refusing officers’ commands to drop the items. The case is under investigation by the LAPD’s Major Crimes Division.

As McDonnell spoke, the commission room erupted in jeers as several people accused the chief of misrepresenting what happened. As the disruptions continued, commission President Rasha Gerges Shields threatened to halt the meeting and clear the room. She ordered the removal of several people who yelled expletives as they were escorted out by security.