Two protesters were blinded from nonlethal rounds fired at close range by one or more U.S. Department of Homeland Security officers during a confrontation, a social justice group and local media reported last week.
Members of the social justice group Dare to Struggle were among the protesters Jan. 9 outside the Federal Building in Santa Ana in response to the fatal shooting of Renee Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during an enforcement action in Minneapolis.
A group member read a statement from one of the injured protesters Jan. 13 outside the Santa Ana City Jail that said he was chanting with a small group when officers advanced with weapons drawn, the Orange County Register reported.
The man, who the Los Angeles Times identified as 21-year-old Kaden Rummler, described in the statement being struck from a short distance, collapsing to the ground and an officer dragging him.
“The next thing I saw was a DHS agent only a few feet away from me, his weaponry pointed straight at me,” according to the statement.
“I heard a bang, and suddenly I was on my knees. It hadn’t dawned on my what happened. Everything was a blur. Sounds became muffles. The only thing I could focus on was the ringing and pressure around my skull. I couldn’t breathe. I thought this was the end.
“I thought I was going to bleed out on the floor of the Federal Building with a DHS agent holding my head down to the ground like a trophy.”
Medical personnel told Rummler that sight in his left eye was permanently lost.
“The doctors performed extensive surgery once and have said they could not get all the shrapnel out of my skull, and I will have to live with metal pieces there for the rest of my life,” according to Rummler’s statement. “At this point, I’m just glad I’m alive to tell my story. I’m fully convinced the DHS agent who shot and dragged me away had every intent to kill me.”
A plastic fragment about the size of a nickel was removed, and additional debris, including metal and glass, was found in his skull, the statement said. Doctors also found shards in the stomach but could not extract all the material.
Another protester, Orange County resident Britain Rodriguez, 31, said he was standing at the bottom of some steps with other protesters when federal agents above opened fire at them, hitting him in the face.
“I remember hitting the ground and feeling like my eye exploded in my head,” he told the Times.
In a video his girlfriend shared with the newspaper, Rodriguez is seen on the ground, holding his face as he screams from intense pain before demonstrators escorted him away.
Unable to work or drive, Rodriguez doesn’t know how much of his vision, if any, he’ll be able to get back, the Times reported. He said doctors told him he will need surgery to remove the cataract before they can determine that.
Rodriguez is a visual artist and also works at an after-school program in Orange County and supervises elementary school students. He said he drives a school van that takes students home or to their stops. Now, however, he may not be able to do that, and his eye injury has hindered his art work, he said.
“All of America should be outraged right now, you know, we should all be very upset at minimum,” Rodriguez told the Times. “Because as far as I’m concerned, I was doing something legitimate and for a legitimate reason, you know, like a civilian was murdered by somebody who seemingly cannot get prosecuted and more than likely won’t get prosecuted, which is why I was out there.
In a statement to the Register, DHS officials said, “A mob of about 60 rioters threw rocks, bottles, and fireworks at law enforcement officers outside the federal building in Santa Ana” in connection with a highly coordinated campaign of violence where rioters wielded shields.
DHS officials said footage also captures officers detaining one protester while at least two others approach. One individual falls as an officer pulls them back toward the building. Blood was visible on the protester’s face as they appeared to struggle, according to the video.
Two officers were injured, and two individuals were arrested and charged with assaulting a federal officer and disorderly conduct, officials said.
Immigration enforcement operations have been occurring throughout Southern California and in cities nationwide since last spring.
