Arrests from clashes mount as Trump orders National Guard to monitor protests

Stern arrived on the scene after hearing reports of federal agents carrying out immigration enforcement operations in the city’s Paramount area. “I thought by the time I get down there it’ll be over…but as the day went on things seemed to escalate,” he said.

He added that he saw a car on fire, along with a Black Hawk helicopter that was “dropping off ammo for ICE, boxes and boxes of it,” and that police officers were armed with “less-lethal weapons,” including flash-bangs — or stun grenades — and sponge rounds designed to deliver a painful blow.

LAPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The force has not responded publicly to the incident.

At about 9 p.m. local time (midnight E.T.), Stern was capturing images of two young women standing a few feet away with their backs to him, waving a Mexican flag toward a line of sheriff’s deputies who were massed farther down the street, when he said he felt “horrific shooting pain impacting my leg” before he blacked out.

“They’re supposed to shoot the ground in front of people, not target individuals — but this hit me directly,” he said, adding, “I can’t explain why they even fired.”

He was taken to the hospital shortly after blood began pouring from his leg, where he underwent scans and X-rays before surgery.

Stern, who immigrated to the U.S. 18 years ago from Hertford, United Kingdom, added that he feared what would come next after President Trump deployed the National Guard around the city, which he said had led to “indiscriminate targeting of everybody who’s at the protests.”

“I feel it’s going to get worse before it gets better. … I wouldn’t be surprised if they start firing live rounds over people’s heads next,” he added.