Coast Guard police shot two people on Thursday night outside a base in Alameda, Calif., where protests against a planned federal immigration raid had drawn more than 200 people earlier in the day.
Around 10 p.m. on Thursday, Coast Guard security spotted a U-Haul truck driver operating the vehicle erratically and trying to ram into the base, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
The driver ignored multiple commands from officers and began to drive in reverse directly toward them at a high speed, the department said. Coast Guard security personnel then fired several rounds at the truck.
The driver was shot in the stomach, and a bystander was struck by a bullet fragment. Both are expected to survive, according to D.H.S.
No Coast Guard personnel were injured.
Earlier in the day, protesters blocked the only road leading into Coast Guard Island. The Trump administration said this week that the island in Alameda would be a gathering spot for federal agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection for an immigration enforcement operation in the Bay Area.
By midmorning Thursday, President Trump announced that he had called off the federal surge for San Francisco after being convinced by tech executives that the city was reducing its crime problem. The demonstration shrunk as the day wore on, and the California Highway Patrol pushed the crowd back to ensure one lane of access to the base.
Laura Cheifetz, a local pastor who attended Thursday’s protests but was not there on Thursday night, said she worried that the incident with the driver could trigger a broader law enforcement crackdown. She said that she and other activists believed he was an outside provocateur.
“I looked at the chats and everybody’s like, ‘Oh yeah, we have no idea who this is,’” she said. “We’re worried they’re going to raise the temperature to where our peaceful protesters get caught up in the middle and it makes things worse for our community members who are already afraid and already suffering.”
The F.B.I. is leading the investigation into the shooting. Cameron Polan, a spokeswoman for the agency’s San Francisco office, said it appeared to be an isolated incident, and provided no further details.
Soumya Karlamangla is a Times reporter who covers California. She is based in the Bay Area.
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