Law enforcement officers fired several rounds at a vehicle that attempted to back into a U.S. Coast Guard base in the San Francisco Bay Area late Thursday, officials said.
The incident unfolded around 10 p.m. local time. Security personnel were standing watch on Coast Guard Island in Alameda when they saw a vehicle “driving erratically and attempting to back into Coast Guard Base Alameda,” the U.S. Coast Guard said Friday in a news release.
Authorities issued multiple verbal commands for the driver to stop, but the driver did not comply and instead shifted the vehicle into 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,” officials said.
Video of the tense moments shows a U-Haul truck attempting to back into the base.
No Coast Guard personnel were injured in the incident, the Coast Guard said.
On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security said one bystander was struck by a fragment, taken to a hospital, and has since been released.
The truck driver was shot in the stomach and is being held for mental health evaluation after he attempted to “weaponize the vehicle to ram into Coast Guard Base Alameda.”
The incident occurred at a site where protesters had gathered earlier in the day to demonstrate against the Trump administration’s immigration policies. A video of the demonstration shows many carrying signs that read “No ICE troops in the Bay!” and “No human is illegal,” while several others chanted “We Shall Overcome.”
Rick Villaroman, a photographer for CBS News Bay Area who captured the incident on video, said he saw a male driver who had been in the van all day and then attempted to back into the base.
“It seemed like he was getting more courageous, and bystanders were saying, ‘Don’t do it. It’s not worth it,’” Villaroman said.
At one point, “he just went for it, [and it was] just chaos after that,” Villaroman added, saying officials fired about 20 or 30 rounds.
Earlier on Thursday, Trump said he decided to call off a surge of federal law enforcement in San Francisco, which was set to begin Saturday.
The reversal came after a call he had with high-powered tech executives, whom he described as “some incredible people, some friends of mine, very successful people.”
With News Wire Services
