FBI offering $50,000 reward for info on protester who appeared to ‘fire a gun' at ICE agents
The alleged shooting took place on Laguna Road in Camarillo, Ventura County, where agents were executing a warrant at what the Department of Homeland Security described as a 'marijuana facility' and met with resistance from local activists and workers blocking their path, leading to several arrests.
The location of the raids has been confirmed as having taken place at state-licensed marijuana nurseries in an agricultural region.U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, who heads the Central District of California office, announced the FBI reward on social media and shared a picture and video of the suspect, who is seen wearing a black T-shirt, pants, and a white surgical mask.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) also posted about the incident on X, warning: 'Make no mistake: anyone who targets our agents will face the full force of federal prosecution.'
According to CBS News, agents en route to the farm in Camarillo encountered the protesters blocking their way, ordered them to back up and fired tear gas and non-lethal rounds when they stood their ground, beginning what proved to be a four-hour-long standoff that also saw the demonstrators smash vehicles' windows with pebbles and stones.
The Ventura County Fire Department reported that paramedics transported four people to the hospital and treated three more at the scene.
Federal agents brought at least one person they arrested to nearby St. John's Hospital, according to the Oxnard Police Department, and left men outside the facility to assist with crowd control, anticipating further protests.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom posted a clip of the clashes on X with the comment: 'Kids running from tear gas, crying on the phone because their mother was just taken from the fields. Trump calls me 'Newscum' – but he's the real scum.'
CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott fired back on the same platform: 'Here's some breaking news: 10 juveniles were found at this marijuana facility – all illegal aliens, eight of them unaccompanied. It's now under investigation for child labor violations. This is Newsom's California.'
The state has increasingly found itself on the frontline of the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration, with anti-ICE protests erupting in downtown Los Angeles last month.
The president responded by deploying the National Guard and active-duty Marines to maintain peace, despite the opposition of Gov. Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass, who expressed concern that the show of force would only exacerbate the situation.
The tensions have since been exacerbated by incidents such as the tackling of Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla as he attempted to ask a question at a press conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and controversial comments from the Vice Mayor of Cudahy, urging local 'cholos' to rise up and protect the community.
Four men were arrested earlier this week for allegedly using homemade spike traps to attempt to impede the progress of another raid in Van Nuys by puncturing the tires on agents' vehicles.
The situation has reportedly left the state's Latino community living in fear and even going into hiding, regardless of their immigration status, with one man telling the press: 'It's like Anne Frank.'
President Trump is reportedly preparing to relax the rules to exempt farm laborers from his mass deportation push after realising that doing otherwise threatens to blow a huge hole in an important industry, a decision that would bring significant relief to California where farmers and ranchers are major employers and where seasonal migrant workers are all-important come harvest time.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
25 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Pa. Rep. Mike Kelly ‘still has questions' year after Trump assassination attempt in Butler
WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly says lawmakers and federal agencies still don't have a complete picture of what allowed a gunman to nearly assassinate Donald Trump at a rally in the congressman's hometown of Butler last year. "Like many in the Butler community, I still have questions about everything that led up to, and unfolded on, July 13," Kelly told the Post-Gazette in a statement Thursday. "May we continue to pursue the truth to get the American people the answers they deserve." The Republican congressman, who co-chaired a bipartisan task force investigating the attempted assassination, said Congress had taken significant steps to dig in to the attack. He said he and his colleagues continue to work with Secret Service Director Sean Curran and the agency to implement nearly 40 task force recommendations to bolster security and modernize protection efforts. The task force's investigation officially wrapped up in December. But lawmakers and multiple agencies are still probing the issue to help prevent future attacks. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General still lists as ongoing its inquiry into the Secret Service's preparedness and processes for protecting Trump. The FBI has led the ongoing attempted assassination and domestic terrorism investigation into the 20-year-old Bethel Park gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, working with the Justice Department, Secret Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The FBI's Pittsburgh field office told the Post-Gazette this past week it had nothing to add to previous statements on its investigation. Reps. Cory Mills, R-Fla., and Eli Crane, R-Ariz., who were not tapped for the task force, held a forum last year along with other GOP lawmakers and interviewed security experts to dig into the shooting as well as the government's preparations and response. Crane said on X Wednesday that, "There are still a lot of unanswered questions." An independent review panel, ordered by then-President Joe Biden and working with DHS, completed an inquiry between August and October. The panel conducted almost five dozen interviews with federal, state and local personnel, traveled to Butler to conduct detailed site surveys, and collected more than 7,000 documents. Like the task force, the panel found severe failures in planning, training, communication and more, suggesting "deep flaws in the Secret Service," according to its final report in October. U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, released on Saturday a Government Accountability Office report finding "the Secret Service had no process to share classified threat information with partners when the information was not considered an imminent threat." GAO's investigation, which Grassley requested last summer, also exposed "a litany of (Secret Service) procedural and planning errors, including misallocation of resources, lack of training and pervasive communication failures, all of which contributed to an unsecure environment" at the Butler rally, according to the senator's office. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., who co-chaired the task force alongside Kelly, told the Post-Gazette on Thursday that protecting the country's leaders "goes beyond partisan politics." "Right now, we are witnessing a tragic rise in political violence across the country," he said. "Last year, President Trump was targeted; this year, a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband were assassinated. I'll continue conducting oversight to ensure this administration implements the task force's recommendations so that our leaders are protected." Secret Service changes The Secret Service has introduced a new fleet of military-grade drones and mobile command posts that allow agents to communicate via radio directly with local police, Matt Quinn, the agency's deputy director, told CBS News on Wednesday. That type of system didn't exist at the Butler rally, and communication failures and coordination among federal, state and local agencies were a major target of the task force and other investigators. Quinn told CBS that his agency was "totally accountable" for what happened at the Butler Farm Show grounds that day, and he provided details of previously announced disciplinary action against agents involved with the rally. Six U.S. Secret Service members were suspended without pay or benefits in the aftermath. The penalties ranged from 10 to 42 days of leave, and when the suspended employees returned to work, they were given restricted roles with less operational responsibility, Quinn said. "We aren't going to fire our way out of this," he told CBS. "We're going to focus on the root cause and fix the deficiencies that put us in that situation." Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the Post-Gazette Thursday that, "We have been working with all the oversight entities including U.S. Senate, Government Accountability Office, Inspector General ... on all of the reports." Before the task force released its final report in December, the Secret Service said it had provided more than 1,500 pages of documents and made personnel available for interviews in response to requests from Congress. "Our desire to learn from this failure and ensure it never happens again is unwavering," Guglielmi said in September. Thousands of interviews The task force wound up reviewing more than 20,000 pages of records linked to the Butler shooting and another foiled assassination attempt at a Trump golf course in Florida in September. While the task force's report said the agency provided significant cooperation, lawmakers said Department of Homeland Security policies "restricted certain important documents to in-camera review, and the overclassification of documents hindered the task force's investigation." While Kelly didn't fully detail what remaining questions he has, he and Crow previously said the Department of Justice withheld information related to ongoing investigations, specifically regarding the actions and motives of Crooks and Ryan Routh, the would-be assassin in Florida. The FBI countered that assertion. The agency told the Post-Gazette in December that it shared "documentation of more than 80 interviews with members of the (Secret Service) and other law enforcement agencies who responded on July 13; 17 detailed and technical laboratory reports analyzing the bullets, IEDs, Crooks' drone, DNA and other evidence; classified intelligence documents; records of communications with the (Secret Service) prior to the rally; photos of evidence; verified timeline based on evidence; dispatch log of 911 call from Crooks' parents; autopsy evidence documents; and other documents." Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of FBI Pittsburgh, told reporters last summer that the agency had conducted "nearly 1,000 interviews, served numerous search warrants, issued dozens of subpoenas, and analyzed hundreds of hours of video footage." Crooks in the month leading up to the attack searched former President Joe Biden and Trump online more than 60 times, and on July 5 looked up the dates of the Democratic and Republican national conventions. A day later, he registered to attend the Butler rally and searched for "how far was Oswald from Kennedy," and for details and photos of the grounds. One bullet struck and injured Trump, while former firefighter Corey Comperatore was killed and two attendees were also shot but survived. Trump's closest advisers, including eventual White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, didn't know the president's condition when he was rushed out of the rally, according to excerpts from "2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America," obtained by the Post-Gazette this past week. Only when Trump, then the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, later began cracking jokes in his hospital bed did his aides realize he was OK, according to authors Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of the New York Times and Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post. "They thought I had four or five bullets in me because there was so much blood," said Trump. He had also refused to take a stretcher into the hospital because "he didn't want the visual," the authors wrote. Drones and tightened security The book highlights increased threats of political violence and additional security measures that the Trump campaign had to grapple with in the wake of the assassination attempts - including ongoing threats from Iran. Trump, for one, complained that his Secret Service detail made it harder for him to cheat at golf, the authors wrote. Meanwhile, the campaign and Secret Service grew increasingly concerned about drones, including in Pennsylvania and California. In September, en route to a farmers' event that required taking country roads southeast of Pittsburgh, Wiles received a call from the Secret Service notifying her there was "an unknown drone overhead, and they couldn't shake it," according to the book. "They might have to split Trump from the rest of the motorcade," the authors wrote. "Wiles thought to herself, 'This is it.' The drone followed them for almost the entire drive but never did anything." Kelly and several lawmakers, and the task force, have suggested the undermanned Secret Service should consider separating from DHS either as an independent agency or move back under the U.S. Treasury Department, where it was formed. The task force noted the Secret Service may be overburdened. The U.N. General Assembly relies on the agency to protect foreign dignitaries - a job that could potentially "be transferred or abrogated in order to focus on the (agency's) primary duty: to protect the president and other critical U.S. leaders." Reps. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat, and Mike Lawler, a Republican, both of New York, introduced legislation in August that would shift the Secret Service's financial crimes investigations to Treasury, and force the agency to stick solely to protecting the president and other officials. Kelly called on Americans reflecting "on the tragic events that unfolded in Butler" to pray for the Comperatore family, the injured rallygoers David Dutch and James Copenhaver, and for Trump. "In the wake of tragedy, the Butler community remains united and stronger than ever," he said. _____ Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Man shot to death on Queens block checked in at favorite barbershop day before
A man shot to death on a bucolic Queens block was nicknamed 'Antz' because of his tendency to pop up everywhere unexpectedly, brokenhearted friends said Sunday. Dwayne Belfield, 41, was a regular customer since childhood at Exclusive Styles barber shop on Church Ave. in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. 'He was here the day before. He would come in and check up on us,' said barber Neil Gadsby. 'The barbers here knew him since he was a kid,' 'He had dreads so he would get a low taper on the sides,' added Gadsby, 56. 'It was sharp, clean. He would stay fresh.' Gadsby explained how Belfied got his colorful nickname. 'According to him, ants be everywhere. They small, they bite hard, they be everywhere. When you think he's not, he's there,' Gadsby said. 'He moves around a lot, checking up on friends.' Gadsby doesn't know what drew Belfied to Liverpool St. near Glassboro Ave. in South Jamaica, where he was shot in the chest about 8:15 a.m. Saturday. Video obtained by ABC Channel 7 Eyewitness News shows a dark-colored BMW slow down at the intersection as the killer unleashes a hail of bullets from the back seat before the luxury car speeds off. Gadsby ran several feet before collapsing on the sidewalk. 'The details on how it happened was bizarre,' Gadsby said. 'It was unbelievable. We came into work at 8 and around 8:30 people started to call real quick. News traveled quick, they were calling. We were shocked … Reality started to kick in. It's sad.' Medics rushed Belfied to Jamaica Hospital, where he died a short time later. The victim was from Guyana and made a living doing body work on cars. 'He used to play drums, excellent drummer,' Gadsby said. 'He would come here and would keep good energy, inspirational words, good energy. Talk about life, sports, women, not too much negativity.' 'He's just a serious brother, quick to defend himself and others,' he added. 'He is strong, brave, always willing to defend his friends. No-nonsense man,' On Sunday morning a little over a mile from the barber shop, a 65-year-old woman was shot in the left buttocks by a shooter who fled in a black BMW. 'It was eight shots,' a neighbor said. 'They were doing this 10 in the morning in broad daylight on a Sunday morning.' 'I went over there to help her. She wasn't bleeding — it seemed like the bullet ricocheted off her,' he added. 'She was crying and me and this other man tried helping her up. I told her she's going to be fine, there's no blood. But I can't imagine the mental pain that woman was in.' Medics rushed the victim from the scene at Foster and Brooklyn Aves. in Flatbush to Kings County Hospital after she was shot about 10:05 a.m. She is expected to recover. 'God was covering that lady,' the neighbor said. 'She had a shopping cart. She was going to the store, just going on about her business, and then that happens.' It was not immediately clear if she was the intended target, cops said. 'There was no police here and there's always police here parked up on the corner,' said the neighbor. 'They wouldn't have done this if there was a cop car posted up … Why do you all remove the police presence? Your presence alone is a deterrent.' 'It was a woman we knew,' said another neighbor on the block. 'We call her mother. She lives down the block.' There was no immediate indication the shooting that wounded the woman has any connection to Belfield's slaying a day earlier. No arrests have been made in either shooting. New York City saw its fewest number of shooting victims in three decades — and the second-lowest murder rate — in the first half of 2025, NYPD officials said earlier this month. There were 397 people shot in the first six months of the year citywide, 125 fewer victims than in the first half of last year, a 24% drop, NYPD statistics show. There were 146 homicides citywide from January to June, 44 fewer than in the first six months of 2024 a 23% drop.
Fox News
42 minutes ago
- Fox News
Suspect shoots trooper, opens fire at Kentucky church leaving multiple people injured
Authorities in Kentucky are investigating an officer-involved shooting with a suspect who allegedly injured worshippers at a Baptist church. In a statement on X, the Kentucky State Police (KSP) said it was investigating a Fayette County shooting that happened at 11:36 a.m. on Sunday. The suspect, who is currently dead, allegedly fled to Richmond Road Baptist Church in Lexington. The shooting began in a different location than the church. "The suspect shot a trooper and then fled the scene, ending up at the Richmond Road Baptist Church, at which time KSP and Lexington Police Dept… were able to secure the suspect," the post stated. "At this time, we can confirm that the trooper is receiving medical attention," police added. "There are multiple victims at the church, and EMS is on scene. The suspect is deceased." Governor Andy Beshear made a post about the shooting on X, asking everyone to pray for the victims. "Please pray for everyone affected by these senseless acts of violence, and let's give thanks for the swift response by the Lexington Police Department and Kentucky State Police," the governor wrote. "Details are still emerging, and we will share more information as available." Fox News Digital reached out to the Kentucky State Police for additional information. This is a breaking news story. Check back with us for updates.
