The artillery rounds were fired over Interstate 5 near Camp Pendleton in San Diego County as part of a military demonstration for the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary.
A 17-mile stretch of the busy freeway that connects Los Angeles to San Diego was shut down during the event by the California Highway Patrol.
ABC News has reached out to the Marine Corps, Camp Pendleton and the Trump administration for a comment.
At that point, the Marine Corps, according to the CHP, immediately cancelled firing additional live ordinance over the freeway.
Camp Pendleton officials told Fox News Digital that an investigation has been initiated to determine the incident’s root cause.
shrapnel from the United States’ artillery rounds. S. . The Marine Corps exploded prematurely and hit a patrol car during a celebration in front of Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The artillery rounds were fired as part of a military display for the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps over Interstate 5 close to Camp Pendleton in San Diego County.
Alongside the live fire demonstration, there were nationwide and in Southern California “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump and his administration.
The California Highway Patrol shut down a 17-mile section of the busy freeway that runs between San Diego and Los Angeles during the event. Over 80,000 people use the stretch of freeway daily on average, the agency reports.
Governor of California. Highway patrol officers temporarily closed the heavily used freeway after Gavin Newsom’s office said it was informed by the federal government on Saturday morning that the military intended to fire live artillery over it.
The military stated last week that neither freeways nor roads would be affected by the incident, nor would mortar rounds be fired over the freeway. All operations would be strictly limited to Camp Pendleton’s training fields, according to military officials, and would not affect public spaces.
However, according to the California Highway Patrol, the federal government asked the state to modify electronic highway signs to read “LIVE WEAPONS OVER FREEWAY” on Saturday morning.
There were freeway signs alerting drivers to the presence of live fire near the Camp Pendleton freeway throughout Southern California.
ABC News has requested a response from the Trump administration, Camp Pendleton, and the Marine Corps.
On Saturday, motorists in Southern California had to make long detours or endure hours of traffic jams on the freeway.
During that period, CHP claims that shrapnel rained down on the freeway in the closure zone.
CHP claims a patrol SUV was hit by shrapnel in a police report that ABC News was able to obtain. In the report, it was stated that the patrol vehicle’s hood had “an approximate two-inch by half-inch piece of shrapnel.”.
The report from the agency states that the hood was dented by the shrapnel.
Patrol officers also reported that an officer on duty at the freeway closure mentioned hearing “what sounded like ‘pebbles’ falling on his CHP BMW motorcycle.”. “.
According to CHP, it promptly notified the Marine Corps that shrapnel was falling near Interstate 5 and that a mortar round had failed to clear the freeway. According to the CHP, the Marine Corps promptly canceled firing any more live ordinance over the freeway at that moment.
There was no more shrapnel discovered during a safety sweep on the freeway.
Fox News Digital was informed by Camp Pendleton officials that an investigation has been launched to identify the underlying cause of the incident. The statement to Fox partially states, “To ensure the safety of fellow citizens, the demonstration underwent a rigorous safety evaluation, and deliberate layers of redundancy.”.
On Sunday, Newsom posted on X in response to the apparent premature detonation and the firing of ordnances over the freeway: “We love our Marines and owe a debt of gratitude to Camp Pendleton, but next time, the Vice President and the White House shouldn’t be so reckless with people’s lives for their vanity projects.”. “.”.
The California Highway Patrol announced that it is asking the federal government to hold an after-action review in order to talk about public safety.
